


Life Bites

by wisterinite



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Analysis, Character Study, Eddisode References In General, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Matt Sucks Episode References, Vampire!Matt AU, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-11-23 09:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 30,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11400171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisterinite/pseuds/wisterinite
Summary: Turns out there's a lot more to being a vampire than Matt could have hoped for. (This is a lot for his little brain to handle though...)





	1. Welcome Back, Matt

He’d gone after Edd first. It was a difficult task, but he’d followed Edd’s wishes that he wouldn’t try and bite him until after a dinner and a movie. It could have been super romantic if Matt hadn’t been thinking of his food the whole time, of sinking his teeth into that soft, exposed flesh at the side of Edd’s neck…

Then Tom appeared and everything went to hell. He killed them both, however still being unable to get the full satisfaction of a meal. Matt stepped outside for a second of fresh air, which was a mistake when....

...

Matt woke up in the darkness of his own room and was relieved to find that he was still alive, and not burnt to ashes in the light of the sun. What an odd dream, he thought to himself as he sat up and ran a hand through his ginger locks. 

It wasn’t really an unusual dream, to find himself in a strange scenario where he and his friends ended up dying in the end. What didn’t fully bode well in Matt’s mind was that it was him who killed everyone in the end, again, and that this also wasn’t a strange occurrence. It was a little funny how it went down though, Matt noted humorously, so maybe he’d share what had happened in that dream over breakfast or something.

Looking over at the clock, Matt found it was actually already evening. He must have came home after Halloween and decided to catch up on his beauty sleep, since it appeared he’d slept the day away. He only figured so, because he’d forgotten what he’d actually done.

It was just another thing he’d forgotten, as Matt was often forgetful, so not too concerning at the moment.

The hallways were also dark, telling Matt that everyone must already be asleep. He could see for himself, where a drunk Tom must have passed out in the light of the TV, which was now dark assumably courtesy of Edd, where bottles of Smirnoff lay all around him.

Nudging Tom proved fruitless as he continued to sleep like a log, so Matt decided to seek out Edd. He wondered what he’d missed while he was passed out, since the trio had planned on going out the following day for hot cocoa by the lake. Fall at the park was beautiful this time of year, in addition to the bounds and bounds of candy leftover from Halloween all over the ground that Matt hoped to pick up, so they’d surely have a good outing.

Matt padded through the darkness of the corridors in only his boxer shorts, which he only just noticed looking down at himself. He should’ve noticed earlier, since the weather, especially at night, was rather chilly. Even with this revelation, he couldn’t bring himself to care that he’d be cold, that is until he reached Edd’s door. Before his friend’s door, he was struck with a sense of modesty that he should probably throw on a bathrobe before waking his friend up, and convinced himself to put something on.

He came back, after having quickly thrown on the first fluffy material he’d reached within the black of his closet, and entered Edd’s room. The curtains were shut, and not even Edd’s bedside lamp was on to provide light for Matt’s tread into Edd’s room, causing him to accidentally step on some of his sketch journals. He peeled his foot off from the papers quietly, with a touch of guilt at having stepped on one of Edd’s works, and this time carefully made his way towards the bed.

He’d hoped that Edd would already be awake, but looking at the sleeping form before him, illuminated only by the digital clock on his nightstand, he felt a little mournful about waking him up now. 

Edd often overworked himself, his obsession with drawing storylines and comics driving him to pull all nighters and even ignoring basic human needs like eating in addition to sleeping. The dark circles under Edd’s eyes told him that it must have been another night like that, and he supposed he would’ve looked like that if he hadn’t caught up on sleep after his exciting Halloween.

Had Matt had an exciting Halloween? He couldn’t exactly remember it. That alone though, must have meant that he had the time of his life, so he put it aside, and with distracted feelings, pushed at Edd’s shoulder to awaken him.

Edd groaned at being jostled, attempting to bury his face into his pillow without moving anymore. It was a little endearing, how his face got all squished up, Matt mused, but continued by poking him more harshly. His quest for knowledge exceeded his pity for his friend’s sleep deprivation, fueling his poking powers to awaken him.

Finally Edd gave in, turning his face towards his assailant with a look of loathing as he peeled himself from his blissful sleep. Matt shot him a toothy grin, to which Edd turned away from, back now facing him so that he could go back to sleep.

“Hey, wait!” Matt protested, bring Edd back around with a pull. Edd shot him a sour look, so he let go.

“W-hat do you want Matt?” Edd willed his sleepy brain to say. Maybe if he responded, Matt would leave quicker. Matt rolled his eyes.

“I was just wondering how long I was out,” he said. Honestly, his concerns were pretty viable. Who knows what could’ve happened while he was out: Tom could’ve eaten all of his candy; Edd could’ve thrown out his halloween costume already; the two of them could’ve already gone and combed through the park for candy without him!

Edd broke him out of his worries by deadpanning, “Couldn’t you just look at a calendar,” It wasn’t a question, Edd thinking this must have been obvious to even a four year old to have known. Matt pursed his lips at his indignancy and shook his head.

“No,” he responded, though he couldn’t elaborate against Edd’s logic. He forged on, “Couldn’t you just tell me already?” He was beginning to become impatient with Edd.

“Erghh...” Edd groaned, as if Matt was asking him to get up and run a marathon for him. “Fiiine,” he drawled. He might as well get this over with, he was probably thinking. Matt felt that his roommates must only tolerate his existence, with how it was like pulling teeth to get them to do anything for him, he thought frustratedly.

Edd sat up so he didn’t have to peer up as much at Matt. “After Halloween we didn’t really see you for a while. Actually, this is the first time you’ve turned up,” Edd explained emotionlessly.

Matt thought for a moment. “Wait, what’s today again?”

“I dunno. Two days after Halloween…? Er, November….second.” Edd’s sleepy voice supplied for him.

“...Two days?!” Matt’s reaction was delayed, seeing as Edd didn’t seem overly surprised to see him.

“Um,” Edd noticed his mistake, thinking for a moment.

“And I don’t even get a welcome back?” he asked, hurt. Edd rubbed the back of his neck, muttering something incomprehensible before responding.

“Welcome back…?” Matt snorted at his compassionless attempt at making up. Edd gave in, saying, “So, are we done here, orr…?” He wanted to go back to sleep, probably.

“...You guys didn’t already go to the park without me, did you?” Matt bit his lip, swallowing back the sad lump in his throat.

“Err,” Edd hesitated again. “Yeah. It was a good time.” He supplied. It was Matt’s turn to grumble a bit.

Matt turned around, not wanting to deal with this insufferable human anymore. Edd could go back to sleep for all he cared, Matt thought numbly as he left the room, ignoring the murmured ‘night M’tt’ that trailed after him.

It was still dark out in the hallways even though Matt felt wide awake, save for his heavy heart. He stood for a moment outside of Edd’s door, wondering what to do.

He couldn’t remember what had happened after Halloween night. Perhaps he’d ODed on sugar or something gross he picked up, causing him to go on some sort of high and forget what had happened. He then must have come home quietly to his bed and crashed afterwards. 

It seemed that Tom and Edd hadn’t been overly concerned about where he’d been after Halloween night anyways, so he too wouldn’t worry too much about it. This hadn’t been the first time that he’d forgotten about adventures he’d taken, and he hadn’t gotten himself into too much trouble yet, as far as he could remember. He should take Edd’s advice and sleep it off, sleep being a much easier way of convincing himself not to worry than he could in his mind.

In his room, he shed his robe off and hung it back up neatly, before climbing into bed. He laid back, head hitting the pillow, with a mind wide awake. It already felt like he’d slept for hours, but it was way too early in the night for him to be up and about. He’d hate to have baggy eyes in the morning.

He found it extremely difficult to sleep that night, but finally managed to shut his eyes long enough for dreams to come alive.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a story following the 'what-ifs' for if Matt's vampirism was permanent and everyone hadn't been killed by the end of the Halloween episode. Imma have fluff, feels, and explore character traits/relationships. Woo


	2. Painful Memories

Flashes of teeth filled Matt’s vision before the red overtook him. Then, like a grainy film, patches of black blotted the scene when he came to again in some alleyway, dizzy and stumbling around like a drunk.

He felt weak, and distantly wished that he could find his bucket of candy. Moreso though, he felt a pit in his stomach urging him to eat actual food, mouth watering at that thought coming to the forefront of his mind. The scene became a blur.

His eyes were already open when he could see again. There was a woman sleeping at his feet, and he was in another location. Brick walls with red graffiti surrounded him, although the graffiti paint was still wet, dripping down to the concrete below. The paint continued dripping down the tiles until the floor pooled with red. The liquid was steadily rising, as Matt stood watching this in morbid fascination, until it was sloshing around his ankles.

As he stared at this strange flood occurring, he thought to himself that this wasn’t actually paint. This was something he was certain about. He felt dizzy again, swaying for a bit before a hot pain seared his shoulder, causing him to gasp and grab at the infected area.

He blacked out again. When he came to, his muscles felt heavy, and every part of him was sweating. He still couldn’t see, but a creeping feeling in his mind told him that he wouldn’t want to see this…

...Dream. It was a dream, he realized, as Matt’s eyes snapped open. He was still in his room, on top of his bed and tucked under his covers, laying there in the dark. 

Drowsiness was not a luxury he would have anymore, as his feet itched to move around out of its fluffy encasing. So he threw back the covers and gave in. The clock showed that it was an early morning hour, whereas the sun was still not up.  _ Thankfully _ , Matt thought with a shudder, perhaps due that first dream having affected him more than he’d initially thought.

Not bothering with his room light, but turning on the harsh bathroom lights, he began his morning routine. The first thing he’d do was check himself out but...that was odd. He couldn’t see himself in his mirror.

Confusion took over, and Matt reached out to touch the normally reflective surface. Moving left and right, he could see that it was reflecting the bathroom as usual, but for some reason he couldn’t see himself. Was this some sort a prank, like a payback for not being around after Halloween? He wondered this hopefully, because that would mean that his friends actually cared that he’d been gone and that his mirror  _ had _ been rigged somehow.  _ Very clever, guys _ …

He shook himself out of his confused daze to brush his teeth. After that, he brushed his hair, did up his face, and freshened up. Although he did this all blind, he felt that, even if he did feel like he’d slept for too long, that he’d probably look okay. If only he could gaze at the artwork he’d made.

Oh well, he thought as he left the too-bright lights behind him and shrugged on his bathrobe once more. His eyes readjusted to the dimness of his room.

As he walked out towards the kitchen, he mused about how off today was so far. He disliked how thrown off his sleeping schedule must have become, all because of his mysterious disappearance after Halloween. He was never up this early, whereas he was usually up by seven or eight and NOT up at four-bloody-AM, even despite the morning person he was.

He was careful to stepping onto the tile floor, remembering the shock he’d had with how cold it’d been last time. He was pleasantly surprised to find it was comfortably warm. Hopefully it hadn’t anything to do with their heater being cranked up too much, because Matt wanted nothing to do with that bill.

Matt didn’t feel incredibly hungry, but he’d nothing better to do than get his morning going. He started out by making himself a delicious bowl of Eddsworld Cereal™. Sitting at the kitchen table, he stared off into the distance and out through the glass door towards their backyard lawn.

As he munched on his cereal, he could see the sky turning different shades of colors in the dawn light. It took Matt’s breath away, but not in awe of its beauty. Fear clawed at his throat as he choked down some of the last bits of cereal, eyes not leaving the hue-meshed sky. He got up quickly, not bothering to drink his milk, dumping his dish in the sink and retreating back to the dark corridors towards his room.

Shutting the door behind him, he didn’t yet feel safe. Some light was sneaking in through his windows, illuminating some parts of his room and eliciting another fear.

He yelped as he saw parts of his floor were dotted with something that looked like blood. It trailed from the door and all around his room. Eyes darting around, his breaths getting shorter and shorter with each taken in, his attention stopped at the metal wastebin that stood next him. Inside, he could peer into it and see his purple hoodie and green overcoat.

Cross that out-- his blood soaked hoodie and overcoat. 

It was as if an eery mist was rising from the floor that Matt could see, indicating the pollution of his once safe haven. It reeked of a tangy smell, lifting into his nostrils and causing his heart to do a backflip, his hand slapping over his face as if to protect himself from it.

He leaned his head against the door behind him, closing his eyes and counting each breath he took. What sort of horror show was this? Matt needed his mirror. His favorite mirror was in-- this time it was his stomach that took a turn as he stumbled away from the accursed looking waste bin. 

He tripped over himself to his bedside desk, opening the drawer and pulling out his second favorite mirror. He fell onto his knees as he pulled it out, peering into it desperately for some semblance of comfort in himself.

He found nothing but the opposite side of the room. The sun was steadily peering into the window, and with a cry he leapt to his feet and tore the curtains shut. 

It was dark again, as he let gravity take him once more. Every part of him was shaking as he lifted the mirror to his now teary-eyed face, the shimmering surface doing nothing to sedate him. He bit his lip and let it fall to his lap, as he folded in on himself like a wilting flower.

The flashes of a certain memory continued filling his vision, finally causing the tears to flow. Dark splashes of red fell onto the mirror’s surface, feeding the fire of his mind to bring him back to the incident of the last night that he’d been conscious. He felt sick again, the nightmarish scene playing before him being almost too much.

Before his mind could catch up to him, his feet had taken him to the still bright and white bathroom, where he retched into the porcelain bowl. Mixed with his cereal was more red, the stench returning with gusto to fill his senses. Having lost his meal, along with the sensory overload, his vision dotted out again. His forehead was resting on the toilet seat when the images pushed him back over the edge.

No, no, no, he didn’t want to see this. He didn’t want to go back to that...A series of emotions were clouding his perception as he cried out again, this time in pain as the memories forced themselves into the forefront of his mind. The floodgates had been opened.

It was a bloody rampage, where Matt was the killer and everyone in the recent vicinity were the victims. He was constantly licking his lips, lapping up the still dribbling blood from his jaw from his last victim, as he continuously charged for the next one.

They were easy to find. He could sense their heat, smell their fear, and already taste the warm, delicious blood. The heat in his neck reminded him where to strike, the primal powers of something unnamable, unidentifiable, driving him to seek satisfaction. One person hadn’t been satisfying, two hadn’t been enough, and three still had something left to be desired.

The tastes were exhilarating, once bitten into the flesh. It filled his senses like a water tank, drowning out the sounds of the outside world and any protests his meal might’ve had. It was almost as if the blood was the only thing that temporarily tamed the beast within him, the unnamable force relaxing its grip on him long enough to let them go and go for the next person.

Each meal tasted sweet, so, so sweet, their bloods high in sugar and fear. This maybe came along with the special holiday he was feeding on. But it didn’t matter too much, only serving to delight him as he enjoyed the massacre’s feast.

There was an itching on the side of his face as he turned from his latest meal and turned towards the approaching sun. He hissed, sounding as if a cross between a cat and a snake, and hid inside a nearby building. His heart was pounding, reminding him of the all too painful feeling that he’d temporarily forgotten about.

Before he’d lost consciousness, the burning on his neck felt like it was going to kill him. He didn’t know why it hadn’t, but then he’d lost consciousness, before coming to with the--hunger. 

He could sense a lot of people in this building. It was a bar, Matt could distantly tell, as he walked into the mellow atmosphere, stopping in time to remember something.

He should block the entrance. He smirked, as he turned to a table that sat one lonely man drinking away and grabbed the edge of the hardwood. He took a step back, rotating himself and flinging the table towards the door, effectively completing his task. Anyone could see the blood on his front and everyone who was even slightly sober was immediately on guard.

A few of them had guns, but it hadn’t been a problem. The bullets passed through him without pain. He felt like he could look like swiss cheese and still plow on through, as the killing fever returned to him, filling him with confidence. One victim, their blood tangy and kind of bitter, left a strange aftertaste on his tongue. The second tasted like they’d drank a little too much, Matt drinking only a portion before leaving their bleeding corpse leaning over the barstool. Three, four, five…

It was after he’s lost count that he had to start actively looking for his prey, some hiding in the bathroom stalls and others hiding behind the counters. He felt giddy, high on the adrenaline and the unnamable feeling, giggling a bit as he stumbled around and located the one who would be his last victim.

The woman had only gotten so far out the door, which she’d managed to wedge herself through, before he was on her. He drained her lifeless, her blood rather bland and with less bite than the others. He contained another giggle as he stood away from her, leaving her lifeless on the ground before him and he leaned against the wall behind him.

He felt numb, a pleasant buzzing in his head pasting a juxtaposed smile on his face. He flexed his hand before him, trying to feel his fingers through the blissful drunkenness. They were coated in the bodily fluids of multiple victims, he remembered, relaxing his hand a bit.

He almost could feel himself again, although the nameless feeling was ever present, allowing the man who’d once been known as Matt to think for a moment. What was going on exactly? What was this nameless feeling?

More importantly, he thought as Matt began to come to again, in turn losing himself to his sudden fear of the nameless feeling, what was he? He held a bloody hand to his ginger locks, much like he was doing in the present, trying to make sense of it. 

He needed to go home. The lump growing in this throat that tasted of bile and blood reminded him that he needed normalcy now, or he was going to lose himself to the monster. He felt he knew this in his bones, this being the only feeling he trusted for now; fear. 

He sprinted home, not losing his goal even as he fell into a puddle on the way, merely clambering back to his feet to start running again. He didn’t break pace when he flew into his room, memories of how he’d gotten there without Edd and Tom seeing him burry as he tore off his clothes and threw them into a wastebin, the force of the clothes whipping through the air splattering his room with a mess. Looking down at himself, he wiped away any semblance of blood off of his pale body and also threw that cloth away. He didn’t stop until he’d made it to his bed, in which he fell onto the surface and crawled under it, hiding from the streaming light of the sun.

He’d had an exhausting night, and it was time to call it a day. He drifted off, finally able to release the fear and what Matt could, in the present, identify as guilt for the previous night.

Guilt and shame were what he felt now. Matt let go of his head, looking at his hands, wondering where his humanity had gone. He couldn’t find himself, not in his mirrors, not in the glimmer of blood, and not in his own pounding heart. He could feel his heart rate slowing down as he continued to sit on the ground, all around him barely registering save for that organ’s steady beat. He was a...he was a…

He was a vampire now. And the steady, foreboding feeling in his heart told him that this change would be irreversible. He let the numbness take over him once more, emotions having been released in his coppery tears, watching nothing in particular as his human life completely dissolved.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -poor vampire boi. Thanks for the comments and Kudos, by the way~! This is a fun one to write ^^


	3. Mirrors and Bleach

So, Matt mused as he sat on the bathroom floor, he was a murderer now. Was he a mass murderer? He couldn’t bring himself to panic too much on this topic, seeing as death came along with their adventuring territory in everyday life. If Matt hadn’t survived Zombie apocalypses, tomb raiding, jungle expeditions, and intergalactic wars, then he might’ve been worried about this discovery.

So, he’s a...vampire. His tongue could prove it, though he couldn’t exactly remember when he’d been turned. He didn’t want to feel the side of his neck, as much as it itched, remembering the strange nameless feeling that originated from there before.

Mr. Nameless Feeling. That was another problem. And it directly stemmed into the issue of what he was going to tell, or not tell, his friends about his new condition. Was the feeling going to come back and cause him to tear into his old friends, murdering them like he had in his first dream-vision? (--dream-vision, because who knew what was fantasy and truth anymore, Matt logicized.)

This was going off on the theory that his condition was permanent. He hadn’t yet confronted google, to see if he actually was going to be a vampire for the rest of eternity.

Matt wasn’t sure about a lot of things, with this whole ‘vampire business’. He never asked to be a vampire! He hoped he was one of those teenage dream vampires, one that sparkled in the sun and not one of those ugly, folklore vampires that terrorized villages and got staked. Also though, he really didn’t want to stand under the sun and find out, a fear that felt rational to him to not stand under the sun and experience immediate death, thank you very much.

He was still trembling when he finally convinced himself onto his feet. Matt felt that he could pretend things were more normal once he’d gotten this place cleaned up, not wanting to have to deal with the immediate consequences of Edd and Tom’s reactions if they decided to break into his room. 

He still didn’t know if he wanted to tell them. As he mopped up blood from various and sentries places, very, very slowly, hand slipping a couple times, slightly afraid to touch the stuff, he wondered if they would accept him. Since Matt was just as uncomfortable with this condition as they would be, wouldn’t they try and help him out? Wasn’t that what friends were for?

Thinking about them for this prolonged period of time as he pulled out some bleach to get rid of some of the nastier stains, he found that he wasn’t feeling particularly murderous at the moment. He didn’t think that he would immediately rip out...okay, he wouldn’t think about them like that at all, as the shaking in his hands caused him to spill some cleaner on himself.

With the room clean, Matt felt that he could begin his Google expedition, to see if there were other cases of real vampires. He ignored the weird mist that he could see rising from the floor, the stench unique in its own white color, and soon found that he could switch off his senses from visibly seeing the smell. It was as if he were a superman just finding out that he had laser vision, with these new vampire powers...What else could he do?

Nothing on Google told him anything about his powers though, so he stuck to the basics: ‘Are vampires real?’ ‘Can you cure vampirism?’ ‘Help! I’m a vampire.’ ‘please, are there any other vampires out there?? Real’-- nothing of immediate interest popped up, other than a couple videogame advertisements for ‘vampires’.

He wondered if he could live forever-- his internet surfing was cut off short by the sound of his door opening.

Tom’s head poked in, his nose immediately wrinkling at the smell. Matt jumped, twisting around to face the intruder, his eyes nervously darting to and from his screen.

“Hey,” Tom greeted, stepping the rest of the way in. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking around at the spotless room with mild interest. 

“Ah, hey,” Matt pasted a toothy smile on his face, but let it drop when he remembered that he probably had fangs. He bit his lip instead.

“...” Tom must have picked up on the awkwardness, because he quirked an eyebrow at his strange behavior. “Edd said you were back. Not that we’ve seen much of you lately.” Matt could see movement in his front pocket, indicating that he was probably playing with his flask of alcohol. “What’s up?”

“N-Nothings up,” Matt assured, voice contrary to his statement.

“Is that why it smells like a swimming pool in here?” Tom’s eyes were squinted, probably irritated by the smell. 

Matt couldn’t think of an excuse for why he super cleaned in here. Gosh, he was a terrible liar. “Errr...”

“Matt,” Tom prompted, and Matt could sense his mounting suspicions. He could feel himself beginning to crack, resisting the renewed urge to glance at his computer screen, but looking anywhere but at Tom.

“I just. Thought I should--” That was not going to be a good excuse. He rerouted, “I found something really gross in here.”

“So you,” Tom put stress on the ‘you’, “-cleaned it.”

“Yyes.”

“...” Tom’s head was faced towards his bedroom window. Matt held his breath, hoping he wouldn’t be interrogated anymore. He wasn’t ready yet. He couldn’t tell them. 

He could hear Tom’s weight shifting from one foot to the other, Matt’s eyes adamant to stare at the empty spot of the ground where there once had been blood splatters.

“Are you--” Tom cut himself off, Matt blinking up at this hesitance. He rephrased, “Where have you been?”

“Er,” Matt thought for a moment. He really didn’t know the answer to that question. “In the neighborhood?” 

“Is that a question?”

“Maybe?” Matt shook his head, at a loss.

“Alright then,” Tom gave in, pulling his hands out of his pockets to grab the door frame. “Dinner’s on by the way. And-.” He gestured to the other side of the room. “-Open a window will you? It’s suffocating in here, and it’s not doing anything for my head.” He shot Matt a pointed look, which Matt only shrunk back a little from. If he thought anything was up, Matt didn’t look to find out if he did, he didn’t say anything as he shut the door behind him.

Matt didn’t really feel like eating right now, seeing as the last food that he’d eaten he’d thrown up. He didn’t know if he was supposed to eat food, now that he was a vampire. Instead of getting up to go out to the kitchen, he returned to his bed.

Grabbing it from where he’d left it at the foot of his nightstand, he laid down and stared into the mirror’s empty reflection.

 

\---

 

His most faithful companion, his pick-me-up, his boost of confidence, his confidant...Matt’s mirror were all of these things and more.

In order to stay faithful, should he continue to stare into it, even as he sees nothing? As a human, a normal human, when he stared into it, it would stare back, no matter the day, time, or place. Should he bring himself to stop doing so, it might be seen as abandonment.

The eyes were the windows to the soul, and his mirror had known his so well. It was his reassurance of who he was, and now he needed that reassurance more than ever.

So many platitudes having to do with him and his mirror, pointed to him being in love. Afterall, ‘you never knew how much you loved something until it was gone.’

FLASHBACK

His mother and father stood behind a young Matt in front of a mirror. They’re hands were on either side of his shoulders, spouting encouragements on how great he was going to be one day; that they were so proud of him; that he was their most treasured possession.

Later, he would stand in front of that same mirror, years later, and wonder what anyone saw in him. He hated that reflection, and the person he saw in it. All dressed in black and face covered in freckles and zits, its appearance made him wonder what his parents had been talking about all those years ago.

After he started hanging out with some friends, his opinion began to change. A boy in their class was an artist and a storyteller, and wanted him to be a character in his stories. Now, standing in front of the mirror, stroking his ‘magnificent chin’, he wondered if he had been missing something up until then. He thought that it looked magnificent too.

As his friends became more independent, they each also became more self absorbed. Matt too turned to himself for strength during hardships, and also immersed himself in self-absorption, his mirror becoming his best friend. He’d finally found his source of confidence, power, and self-esteem, and saw in his reflection as the better person that he’d always wanted to be.

END FLASHBACK

Now, as Matt tried to envision himself in this little mirror in his hand, he had no idea what he looked like. He looked at where he should have been, and saw nothing. He’d lost both himself and his love.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (--wasn't really sure where to post that little angsty drabble. completely fine if you skip it, plot-wise, buuut yeah).
> 
> This story's being to well received ;w; Thanks for all the kudos and comments guys!!


	4. Roommate Rescue

It was in his bed where Edd found him still lying, stiff with his head resting on his pillow, staring at his mirror. 

“Er, Matt..?” he called tentatively. Matt’s head shot up at the sudden intrusion, but seeing as it was just Edd, laid his head back down with a whimper. 

“Edd! I...” he trailed off, trying to place what he was feeling with his limited vocabulary. He felt sick, with how slow his heart was beating. He didn’t want to get up. He wanted to wallow in self-pity. And he desperately wanted to cry, but found that he was too weak to. He finished dramatically, “My life’s falling apart.”

“Oh boy,” Edd said apprehensively, approaching the bed a little more. “Tom!” he called, sitting on the bed beside Matt. Matt held the mirror closer to him, protectively as he made room for Edd’s butt.

“What?” the pair could hear in the distance. Edd turned his attention back to Matt, speaking softer.

“Matt, have you eaten anything today?” he asked, brushing his friend’s bangs out from his forehead. Matt flinched at the contact. “You look a bit pale.” Matt shook his head, burrowing deeping in his covers trying to escape from the comfort. Why was he being so nice to him?

“What?” Tom asked again, now at his door. He stopped where he had before, watching the two of them, confused.

“Tom,” Edd said, voice tinted with urgency. “Was he like this earlier?”

“Er, like what?” he asked dumbly.

“This,” Edd jerked the hand that wasn’t hovering near Matt’s head pointedly. Matt kept his attention down towards his hands, trying to ward off the empty churning of his insides.

“Uh,” Tom hesitated, probably now assessing Matt’s condition. “Yyes?” he said, but quickly changed his answer, a bit defensively, “-No? --I dunno!!”

Edd exhaled sharply. Matt shut his eyes, not wanting to be between their arguing. “...” Edd paused for a moment, before tearing Matt back to reality with a hand on his wrist. As Matt’s eyes shot open, Edd quickly retracted his hand. “Good gravy, Matt, you’re freezing!”

“...” Matt didn’t respond to that. Edd’s hand was comfortably warm, but not so different that he’d be considered ‘freezing’. Then again, Edd’s hands were always cold, which was a little strange…

Matt’s ears could pick up a strange buzzing noise coming from outside of the room. The lights, he realized. “That’s it,” he heard Edd say, before his wrist was seized once more. Edd’s other hand was slowing guiding him up into a sitting position.

“Come on. We’re going to get you some fresh air,” he said. Matt could still see white smoke rising up from the ground, belatedly realizing what Edd meant as being ‘fresher’ air. 

He ordered Tom, “Go grab Matt some fresh clothes.” He was still wearing his fluffy bathrobe, slowly coming undone and dropping off of Matt’s tired frame. Edd had an arm around Matt’s back, and looking from the corner of his eye, Matt could that he was peering at him with the same worried frown that he’d walked in with.

It was as if the world was moving in slow motion around him, Matt thought, blinking slowly. Edd was saying something else to Tom, but their chatter dimmed in Matt’s mind as he focused on this strange new sensation occurring around him.

He could feel the arm around him tightening, as Edd pointed frantically at something across the room with the other. Had Edd always been this protective of his friends? Matt thought that if he asked him about it, he’d probably say, ‘he hated seeing a dumb animal suffer’, and in fact he probably had before.

Hadn’t there been a time when Edd had been sworn to making sure nothing bad happened to his friends though? It had been that way for each of them, before in highschool when everything was out to get them and they’d silently formed a tight knit, armored bond. Nowadays it wasn’t like that, Matt thought to himself, but he couldn’t recall when that had changed.

It was every man for himself, but now seeing his friends working together to try and help him, which was a miracle in itself, he wondered if they’d ever completely moved on from that mentality. Tom chucked some pants and a sweatshirt at him, making the world go back to normal pace in Matt’s mind before looking down at their selection.

They’d chosen his ‘I <3 M@’ shirt and a random pair of jeans. The shirt was made of rather thin materials for the weather. It was looking at the collar that spiked a remembrance of something he needed to keep hidden, however. He cupped a hand over his shoulder and glanced over at Edd, who scrunched his eyebrows together at his strange behavior.

“Are you okay..?” he asked, and Matt shook his head, laughing nervously. He let go of his neck and instead pulled his robe tighter around himself, fluffy material brushing over what must have been vampire puncture wounds, causing Matt to shudder a bit.

“Um, y-yeah,” he answered. “..Don’t you think this outfit looks a bit cold?” he asked, to which Edd shot an ‘I told you,’ look towards Tom.

Tom raised his hands and said, “Well, as clean as this place is, you’re in serious need of doing some laundry.” At the reminder of what the room was clean whence of, Matt flinched. As Tom started talking again, Edd started rubbing circles on his back, causing Matt’s attention to be fixed on him. “You have a coat though,” Tom pointed out.

“Uhh,” Matt hummed, distractedly. He ‘did’ have a coat. Pasttense. It was currently being eaten away by the bucket of bleach Matt had poured onto the blood-soaked clothes. “D-don’t I have a sweatshirt somewhere?” He had a few of the same purple sweatshirts lying about.

“Fine,” Tom said, walking towards his dirty laundry hamper, where one said apparel laid on the ground. “Don’t complain it if smells, though.” Matt couldn’t imagine himself doing so, seeing as he had worse things to worry about.

“Thanks,” Matt said, taking the items from him. He could feel the heat radiating off of his skin before he pulled away, making Matt pause in wonderment. Was Tom always so warm blooded?

Contrasting from the half-time speed Matt had seen before, he suddenly found that Edd had dragged him all the way to the door. He’d paused, looking back at Matt as if he too was waiting for his mind to catch up.

“Uh, what?” Matt asked, because he wasn’t sure if Edd had asked a question. Tom pushed past him and out the door. 

“We’ll wait out here for you.” Oh, yeah. Matt looked down at the bundle of clothes in his arms in acknowledgement. He nodded.

Matt had a floor length mirror in his room that he would automatically look towards while changing. He finished pulling up his pants, expressionless, as he then moved to put a shirt on. He was a vampire now, and had no soul, no heart, and no reflection.

He didn’t care that he was making a huge deal out of it, as the first two assumptions were made up. The slow, barely audible ‘bu-bump’ in his chest told he at least still had a heart. As for the soul part, well, who’s anyone to say on that guess. Matt felt entitled to some drama, as up to now no one else could pity him for it, since he hadn’t told anyone.

Pulling on the tight-necked sweatshirt ensured that he wouldn’t be planning on telling anyone anytime soon anyways, so he might as well get his grievances aside for now.

There was a knocking on his door, and Edd’s voice saying, “Matt, are you okay in there?”

“Yeah,” Matt called back. He better not walk in here, Matt thought, more as for his preservation of dignity than of modesty. He ran a hand through his hair experimentally, trying to imagine how it looked. He finally gave up for now, walking towards the door and opening it.

He asked, pointing at the red locks, “Does my hair look okay?” Edd blinked up at him, moving away from the door.

“Er,” he thought for a little too long, making Matt frown. “Yeah! It looks fine.” Matt guessed that was as good as he was going to get, as Tom clearly was avoiding his gaze.

“Alright then,” he said, smiling softly. There were his two roommates, waiting for him to finished getting dressed, while before they’d have surely left without him. They were doing this for him.

“Great,” Tom said, with an enthusiasm that sounded forced. “Let’s go!” As he and Edd followed him out the door, he made the exception that they were ‘trying’, anyways.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they gon get that boi outta the house. As always, THANK YOU FOR THE COMMENTS AND KUDOS!! It makes me feel like I'm doing something right~


	5. A Hard Question

Between the two of them, Tom and Edd, they both had to literally drag Matt in order to get him outdoors, as Matt was determined to grab ahold of any wall or surface and hang onto it for dear life. They only wanted to make Matt feel better, for some strange reason, and he wasn’t making it any easier for them.

Repeated chants of ‘no, no, no, no’ and pleas of ‘please, don’t, I’m too young to die’, fell on deaf ears as they pried his white knuckles from the kitchen doorframe. The kitchen was bright and open, with many windows allowing natural sunlight to fill the room. Matt screeched in fear from where he was slung over Tom’s shoulder, arms scrambling to let himself be released from this stronghold. It was too late, as he covered his face in horror of his inevitable demise, Tom trudging on stubbornly through the cheery looking vampire-slaughterhouse.

Edd was ahead of them, saying comforting things to Matt like, “Matt please, you’re being dramatic,” and “WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP YELLING?!” Matt’s yells soon died down as he accepted his fate with small whimpers and sniffles. Did they hate him so much that they wanted to kill him, Matt wondered, ignoring the fact that they had no idea what was wrong with him.

If his brain had caught up with him earlier, that when they wanted him to get dressed that they were going to take him outside in the sunlight, he wouldn’t have gotten out of bed in the first place. However, as they walked through the hallways, leaving the darkness of his bedroom behind, Matt grasped what was going on and tried futilely to retreat.

He’d put up a good fight, despite there being two against one, but it was useless as they soon overpowered him. And they’d soon had gotten him in sunlight.

Hearing his protests die down, Tom plopped a confused Matt down by their front door, with an expectant look. “You can walk yourself,” he said, pushing his shoulder through the open door. Matt blinked, looking down at his shoulder, then his whole self, wondering why, being so close to sunlight, that he wasn’t evaporating yet.

Tom must have gotten tired of waiting for him, because Matt yelped as he was pushed fully out the door. He stumbled a bit, shutting his eyes then squinting towards the sun. He wasn’t...dead?

Edd was also waiting, patiently outside holding the door open for his two companions. He rolled his eyes, and began to lead the way, saying, “Well, c’mon then.” 

Well, Matt thought, catching up to him, that’s one vampire trait he didn’t need to worry about. So far.

Although he hadn’t completely shaken off the itchy, jumpy feeling at being completely exposed to the sunlight, he managed to take his mind off of his fear long enough to let his mind drift to his experiences this morning.

On their walk to wherever, because Matt hadn’t been listening very well to what Edd and Tom were saying to him, Matt found himself continually getting lost in thought. It was as if he’d regressed back to his teenage years, with wondering how his new body worked and why he was feeling the way he was, and if he would be accepted by other people...he generally felt like he was going through puberty again, albeit a supernatural one.

Apparently he could literally see smells now. They came in multiple colors and densities, floating through the air, always moving, but originating from whatever object was releasing the odor. Everything had a distinct smell, from the trees to the metal poles on the sidewalks, to random buildings. Even people had their own distinct smell, although each being human they had a variety of odors anyway.

He could also affect how fast he saw the world changing around him. He wasn’t sure if he was physically affecting time or if he was just slowing down or speeding up his thought processes, but he found he was getting better and better at willing time to go faster or slower. It got him in trouble a bit when he was walking besides his friends and struggled to catch up with them or went way farther ahead of them, but he somehow managed to brush it off as being his fatigue.

“Matt,” Edd repeated for what was probably the fiftieth time that day. Matt snapped back to reality finally, after he finished playing around with making time go faster around him. This was a perfect way to not pay attention if he got bored with what someone was saying!

The worried look Edd was casting him got him to feel a bit remorseful however. Matt wasn’t sure where Tom went off to, probably gotten bored with the quiet park scene and Matt being preoccupied with himself. But Edd was still there, waiting patiently for Matt to come back to reality. Was he really worrying him that much, Matt wondered.

“Sorry,” he said, because he’d forgotten a bit that they were doing this for him. Why, still, he wasn’t sure, but he hoped to shed light on the subject soon…”Why are you doing this for me?” he asked abruptly.

Edd hadn’t expected this, Matt’s sudden change from semi-catatonic to looking all like he was completely attentive, and shifted a bit uncertainly. Matt wasn’t very good with normal conversation flows though, whereas if something pertinent appeared in his mind, he wouldn’t usually ease into it like any other tactful person might’ve.

Maybe Edd himself didn’t know the answer, or he just really didn’t want to say, because there was then a heavy pause. He finally sighed and shrugged, partially confirming Matt’s suspicions. “I don’t know,” he stated.

The answer was so bland and truthful, that Matt had to nod, because he understood. His chest had an aching feeling though, as if he’d wished that he would have said something different. That his answer would have been, ‘because we’re friends’.

But friends didn’t think it was ‘every man for himself’. And friends didn’t go weeks without talking to eachother in the same living space. Friends leaned on eachother in the end, instead of themselves. Or, these were what the movies told Matt, anyways.

Friends did worry about eachother, though. And friends did watch movies together, play co-op video games, and order specific pizza toppings with the others in mind. Friends could be civil with one another most of the time, and friends could stand to live with eachother.

Edd wasn’t looking at him, as if having the same internal conflict Matt was. Though, probably not, since it was Matt doing most of the thinking on this trip so far, but he’d like to think so anyways. 

Maybe they were more connected than they gave eachother the impression that they did. Maybe all the harsh words spoken to one another were in self-defense and that the apathetic attitudes they held for one another were them coping.

Maybe it wasn’t just Matt who’d missed their friendship in the end. As much as they’d grown away from eachother, maybe in their own convoluted way they were still friends.

“...thanks,” Matt said, breaking out of his thoughts once more. The smile that Edd returned to him got Matt feeling that maybe there was one upside of having to reevaluate his life, now that he was a vampire. It helped him remember something, perhaps something that not only he’d forgotten.

“Hey,” Tom’s voice spoke from behind him. He was approaching with a string in hand, that connected to… “Here.” Matt saved the red balloon from flying up in the sky by gripping it tight, looking up at the beautiful red sphere. The elated feeling growing within him had finally reached his eyes at this point, some life returning to his pale freckled face.

He turned his face back to his friends and said, “It’s beautiful.” Sure, his hands and heart were now empty of his mirror and his beautiful reflection, but maybe now he could strive to look towards a different comfort.

His vampirism had stripped himself of his self-addiction, but maybe he wasn’t stripped of everything. He still had his friends. Maybe he could find a love in himself another day, as the urge would always be there, but right now, maybe he could find a love in another thing.

“Hey,” Matt started, “-we should go get icecream next!”

“Are you kidding,” Tom huffed. “It’s freakin cold out here.”

“Well...”

“How about we go grab a second supper,” Edd suggested. “I’m getting kind of hungry.”

“..Eh, why not?”

Matt took a little longer to answer. “...Sure!”

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (aw, look at them trying to comfort Matt)
> 
> Anyways, Kudos and Comments are always appreciated~.


	6. Puppydog Eyes

Matt stared down at the dinner plate that had been set before him. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a plastic container of mashed potatoes and gravy slapped together by the fast food attendees. It smelled the same and looked the same, Matt noted as he poked it experimentally. 

He hadn’t had the chance to experience any nasty side affects of eating his cereal that morning, since almost immediately after he had thrown up its contents. Though, he’d thought it had been the sight of blood that had made him sick earlier and not vampire food poisoning.

Tom and Edd were lightly arguing over their own foods, so not paying too much mind to Matt’s hesitance. Matt finally dug his spoon into the mushy substance and brought it to his lips.

Rolling it around on his tongue, he thought it felt kind of funny on his numb canines, but otherwise didn’t elicit any gag reflexes in him. He swallowed, and watched the heat wafting up from his meal as he waited. Still nothing.

He smiled a bit more at this and continued to dig in. The other two’s conversation lulled a bit, Matt glancing up from the round table to the pair now eating. Without thinking about it, he sort of observed how Tom’s eye lids would flicker in whatever direction he was looking at and how Edd would wipe his mouth with a napkin after each bite of food.

“So, Matt,” Edd began, lowering the cheap towel from his face. He looked towards the soft drink Tom was currently drinking to the table and back. Tom looked blankly at him. “..Where to next?” 

For some reason, Matt felt like that wasn’t what he wanted to ask him, from the awkward way it slipped off his tongue. He was at the bottom of his mashed potatoes, so began to pile up his trash.

“Er, I don’t have a preference,” he said, voice raising a bit. He might’ve been feeling a tad nervous, with how foreign it was to have acknowledged that his friends still had a semblance of compassion in them. He didn’t want to mess this up??

When was the last time one of them did something like this for another? There might’ve been the times when Tom had fallen into a severe low that they’d attempted to do something nice for him. Or, if one of them was in need of medical attention, that they’d make the phone call to the pharmacy or hospital to get them the help they needed.

Was Matt doing something different to earn this special treatment, or was it something to do with his vampirism? Matt didn’t have the sort of knowledge to answer that question, not unless he met another vampire or something.

Edd was leveling him was a look that was a little more to what he was used to: Exasperation. Meanwhile, Tom had hesitantly lowered his drink and was looking between the two of them unsurely.

“Er, do you wanna go home?” Tom asked, surprising Matt to being the one to breaking the tension. In fact, Tom still being here at all seemed like a miracle to Matt, seeing as he was the most...insensitive with emotions, out of all of them.

Matt wanted to say no, because he was enjoying having the three of them just hanging out together. He stalled, “Uhhh...” He wouldn’t want to explain to them why he didn’t want to go home, his mind delving into if he’d have to defend why home wasn’t where he wanted to be or why he wanted them to spend more time together. 

It was Tom’s turn to sigh, annoyed. “Just spit it out already.”

“Uhh,” Matt’s mind tried to remember what the question was again. 

“Matt.” It was Edd who snapped at him, bringing his flustered attention back to remembering what he was supposed to say.

“Oh! Uh, sure,” he rushed, belatedly realizing that wasn’t the answer he wanted to give. “If you want...”

“..Are you sure?” Edd must have noticed his hesitation, but Matt nodded anyways, not wanting to seem too unsure of himself as he was.

“Yep!” His leg bounced under the table as he endured Edd’s piercing stare. 

“Alright then,” Tom said, gathering up his own trash and getting up. Matt quickly followed him, Edd being the last one to get up as he scooted in their chairs politely for other customers.

It made sense that they should start to go home, anyways. The sun was still in the sky, but almost down to the point that it would be considered evening. This time it didn’t bother Matt too much, since it was no longer beating down on them as harshly. Instead, he could focus on the two individuals next to him.

Walking in between them now, it felt as though Matt could begin to pinpoint exactly what they felt like. It wasn’t as if they were in direct contact, but it was more that Matt could sense them as being distinctly them. He thought that this was important, so he let himself record the sounds of their footsteps intermingling, the heat bouncing off of their sides, and the sound of their breaths fighting against the cold air.

A sudden protective instinct began to well inside of Matt, and for some reason he felt like, if his common sense hadn’t screamed at him ‘NO that isn’t a good idea’, he would’ve grabbed their hands.

“Brr,” Edd shuddered, shoulders rising to protect his neck from the cold. “I knew I should’ve ordered coffee..” Tom humphed at this, amused despite the frown on his lips (it was a Tom-thing). 

“Like you need more caffeine in your system.” For whatever reason, Tom decided to pull out his flask, swishing it around, as if debating on whether or not to drink. Matt opened his mouth to also say something mindlessly about the weather, but found he couldn’t.

He wasn’t just yet ready to talk like nothing was going on with himself, which was the main reason why he was mostly keeping himself lost in his thoughts about his friends. It was beyond Matt’s capabilities to multitask keeping his thoughts focused on one thing and to lie out of the other. Maybe if he suggested something for them to do when they got home…?

Edd beat him to it, saying, “When I get back, I’m bundling up in blankets and never coming out.” That...was a perfect idea!

“We should watch a movie when we get back,” Matt proclaimed, a proud smile on his lips for his fast thinking. Tom made a disgruntled noise at this, while Edd nodded in agreement.

“Sounds good,” he said. Matt looked towards Tom to look for a similar response, but he kept his attention transfixed ahead.

It was a known fact that Matt was the cuddliest of the three of them. Usually Matt had to be in a mood to engage it, but it was often counter measured by making Matt stand while they watched a movie or yelled at until they’d gotten their personal spaces back. However, with the giving mood Edd seemed to be in, and the neediness of Matt so far, perhaps Tom must’ve detected that there was some caution to be needed before agreeing.

Matt attempted to give him puppydog-eyes, and he saw Edd leaning towards them with a similar goading expression on his face. Tom looked boredly from Edd to looking disgruntled by Matt, before sighing.

Matt and Edd cheered victoriously before actually hearing Tom say, “-Fine.” Matt and Edd turned to one another to high-five.

Matt payed little attention to how Edd gasped in surprise at something, grinning cheekily at Tom. He did, however, turn when Edd grabbed his hand in both of his.

“You’re so warm now!” Matt’s mouth hung open as Edd claimed his hand as his own, holding it close to him and bundling close to his side. He could feel himself getting warmer, now that he mentioned it..

“I claim you, Matt Harvey, to be my walking heater,” Edd said, with an official tone.

“What..?” Tom seemed curious as to the enthusiastic display Edd was putting on. At his doubt, Matt held his hand out, palm up, for Tom to see for himself.

Tom was only barely feeling the side of it, but Matt enclosed his fingers around his, his earlier whim coming back to him.

“H-ey, ‘leggo!” He flailed his captured arm, Matt determined to hold on. Tom managed to slip out though, stepping a little ways farther as to prevent another attack.

“What, don’t you wanna be warm?” Matt asked, recalling the similar, if less severe than Edd’s, chill in his fingers.

“I don’t need you,” Tom said. And, as if to prove his point, he swished his bottle of alcohol around, as if that proved his point. Edd released a breathy laugh, a roll of his eyes laced in his voice.

“Fine,” Matt said. “We don’t need you.” Tom stuck his tongue out at him, like the polite, mature adult he was. 

As they walked, Matt and Edd continually made jabbing comments on ‘how nice and unlonely they were’ with their current state, and ‘wow, we’re so warm and still sober,’ as if they were wondering why that was possible. Finally Tom gave up on listening to their saltiness and gave in.

He made a lame comment on their ‘girly behavior’, but they didn’t say anything more about it as they walked the rest of the way home, literally connected and still in step.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you guys enjoyed that~...(that was a lot of fluff...*dying noises*
> 
> ....im sorry. uh) Kudos and Comments are always appreciated~. :> and THANK YOU so much for reading, you guys!! This story really sparks my muse for some reason


	7. Movie Night

Despite Matt’s earlier hesitance at going back home, he found he felt a whole lot safer being in that familiar space than out in the open airs of the city. It might’ve been the warmth of the room or the smells, but the place seemed to settle something within him, like placing the final missing puzzle piece to the puzzle.

While Edd went to the kitchen with a popcorn bag in hand, Matt went searching for their closet, where he found a blanket for them to sit beneath. Tom was already on the couch, bottle of vodka at ready on the couch’s right armrest. He’d flicked on to a random channel, watching it in the passing time before they’d make a movie selection.

Matt sat down on the opposite side of the couch, mindful to throw Tom a corner of the blanket for him to take as he wanted. He then drew his knees up to his chest, ignoring the sidelong glance Tom shot him, watching the infomercials playing on the screen.

He let the glowing box suck him in until Edd had returned asking, “So, what movie do you guys wanna watch?” He set the bowl of popcorn in the middle where he’d eventually sit and looked between the two of them. Matt saw Tom shrug indifferently, so he made the suggestion.

“How about a romantic comedy.” Edd’s face dropped at this, while Tom didn’t make any outright rejections of the idea.

“Orr,” Edd tried to steer away, “-we could watch a horror movie!” Matt made a face at this suggestion, while Tom raised his Smirnoff as a toast to this idea.

“Whatever,” he said, taking a swig. Matt felt a little jealous, seeing as Tom would get to be drunk while they’d watch it.

“Ohh,” Matt made a defeated noise, hugging his knees tighter to himself. “Do we have to?” Horror movies meant blood, and he definitely wasn’t sure if he was feeling it right now. Usually he was the one to suggest the bloodbath movies, but now...he would actually go for one of Tom’s chick-flicks right now (they each claimed that it was the other person who liked chick-flicks, but really it was both of them).

“Aw, Matt, look,” Edd said, pulling out a DVD from their small cabinet. “-it’s one of your favorites~.” It was a horror movie that they’d watched nearly a million times, because it was so hilariously put together. Maybe since he knew what to expect he wouldn’t be too affected?

“Alright,” he relented. He didn’t want to look like a wimp in front of his friends, or have to explain why he was currently a bit traumatized(?) by blood.

“Yay!” Edd cheered, sticking the disc into their player. He came back, placing the bowl on his blanketed legs and covering Tom’s own legs himself, seeing as the man had yet to make a move to take it.

Tom was in control of the remote, pressing play to leave the menu screen. All eyes were glued to the captivating box, hands sneaking out of covers to grab handfuls of popcorn as the movie played out.

It didn’t seem too scary at the beginning, Matt even giggling the first part that the serial killer took their first victims. The blood was horrendously fake, and didn’t get too much screen time before the scene snapped to the next would-be victims. And when the movie did get to its scarier parts, Matt hadn’t gotten immediate flashbacks to his halloween night of horrors, but rather was enraptured by the misfortunate events happening on screen.

After the bowl of popcorn had emptied itself, Ringo decided to take his place on Edd’s lap. He stayed there clear until the long expected jump scare, which got Matt every time, so in turn triggered a chain reaction of jumping as Matt clung onto Edd which caused Edd to hit Tom. 

Edd had gotten Tom pretty good in the nose, which started the nervous giggling going on near the end as the credits began to roll. Matt joined in, sprawling across Edd’s lap to pat Tom in a mock-apologetic way, laughing at the surprise written on Tom’s face. Tom’s vodka had thankfully already been empty, as to not get it everywhere in the commotion, which he looked mournfully at as to try and drown himself in it.

“Y-Your poor face,” Matt gasped, turning onto his back to look up at Tom’s grumbling self. His lack of response only made way for more laughter, before both Edd and Matt decided to calm down.

Matt sighed, the hilarity of the situation draining out and in its place comfort coming in, as he let himself be content with just lying there underneath the covers on top of his human-pillow. He closed his eyes, wishing to just have nobody move so that he could sleep there all night. 

“Hey, Matt,” Edd whispered, brushing a bit of the hair from his face. No one was supposed to touch his hair though, which he grumbled so, swatting the air in front of him sleepily and opening his eyes. He looked up at the smirking face above him.

Matt reluctantly sat up with a groan, not wanting to be a spectacle for his smug, yet very comfy, friend any longer. He yawned, his body protesting to being awoken, and stretched a bit.

“You feelin’ any better?” Edd asked. Matt looked back to find both Tom and Edd were awaiting his answer. He smiled, that same camaraderie feeling returning to him, and replied.

“Yeah. Thanks.” Tom looked away, probably embarrassed to being presented with feelings, while Edd’s eyes looked on, sparking with a similar emotion to Matt’s.

“Good,” Edd said, before he cleared his throat, apparently also beginning to become embarrassed. Matt rolled his eyes, although the smile that remained on his face ruined the effect.

“Well, I’m going to bed now,” Tom announced, apparently also fed up. Matt wasn’t yet fed up, and privately wished that he’d stayed lying down so he could have grabbed hold of him to make him stay.

“That’s a good idea,” Edd agreed, Matt’s internal disappointment apparently not reaching him either as he stood off of the couch. He went over to the sink and deposited the popcorn bowl while Tom walked away towards his room. Matt was left on the couch alone, debating on what to do now.

“You coming?” Edd called, already at the foot of the hallway.

“Y-yeah!” He got up as well, following Edd through the hallway until he stopped at his room, Edd still making his way to his own room.

What if when he got there, it still smelled like bleach? Would he be reminded of the blood that he’d left there, splattered all around the room, on his floors, in his trash bin, on his mirror--?

“G’night,” Edd said, breaking Matt out of his trance. He glanced over in Edd’s direction, before pushing his door bravely open.

“G’night,” he returned, entering and shutting the door behind him. He held his breath and pried his eyes open to his closed door, unable to let go of it just yet. He couldn’t sleep here, he thought to himself, not daring to breathe even as he hadn’t yet judged his room’s condition. He would quietly sneak to the living room and sleep on the couch.

He perked up his hearing, trying to listen to find if Edd was still in the hallway. Not hearing anything to indicate so, he pushed the door back open and tip-toed through the hall.

The couch wasn’t as inviting as it had been when he had Edd to prop himself up on, nor was the blanket as warm without the extra bodies, but he found himself relaxing in its embrace all the same. At least it wasn’t his room, which felt like a stranger place to be in, where none of his mirrors reflected his face anymore and the air was stained in white with his attempt to make it feel normal again.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rip Tom's face
> 
> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated, once again~.


	8. Late Halloween Scare

Despite his best attempts at getting to stay comfortable, he’d only managed to stay in a tranquil sleep-like state for about an hour. He sat up, frustrated with his body’s refusal to go into hibernation. The least he could do to keep himself looking nice for the day is to get his beauty sleep, now that he couldn’t even check his hair to make sure it was looking nice. Thanks a lot for being unhelpful again, body, Matt thought with a tired sigh.

He stroked his hair self consciously, even though no one was around in these wee-hours of the night, and tried to think of something to do. For Edd, he usually worked until he collapsed, but reading and drawing weren’t really Matt’s ‘things’ to do. He wasn’t sure what Tom did, but he assumed it had either something to do with music or drinking, depending on his mood. Matt usually didn’t have sleeping problems, so he wasn’t too experienced in that department either…

When he was younger, he was sure he’d had his parents to bug if he couldn’t sleep at night, but he couldn’t remember how they’d remedied a cure for his rare insomnia. How long has it been since he’d last been in contact with them…?

Shaking his head from those thoughts, he heard a door ‘click’ somewhere in the dark hall beyond. Glancing over at the clock, it was a little after midnight. Who would be up at this hour…?

The figure approached slowly, and Matt could clearly make out the outline of Tom. He was looking straight at him with a wary gait, a broomstick in his hand like a bat. He looked like he saw and intruder...Matt glanced behind him, not having sensed anyone else approaching and panicking.

Tom broke out into a half-run, stopping just as Matt managed to whip his head around and yelp in fear. He lowered his ‘weapon’ slightly, gawking a bit.

“Matt?” he called, as if trying to rightly confirm his identity. Matt raised his hands defensively, just in case he decided to go for the face.

“Tom?” he echoed back tentatively. Tom released a breath, crumpling a bit in relief.

He suddenly straightened back up. “What’s with the creepy red glowing eyes, man?!” Tom threw down his broom to lean against a side table. Matt looked from side to side, startled. 

“I--” He didn’t know that his eyes glowed red! “It’s a...beauty thing!” he quickly spat out the excuse.

“More like a freaky thing,” Tom laughed, more of nerves than of humor. “Halloween’s passed.” Oh my gosh, was he buying it? Matt was a better liar than he’d initially thought..

“They...just came in,” he continued along that excuse. 

“Yeah, well. Those would have made a heck of a lot better a costume than what you had.” Tom approached the couch, perhaps finding it safe to come nearer now that he’d confirmed that a demon wasn’t sitting in his living room.

Matt made an indignant noise, because he liked his bunny costume, thank you very much. “Says you. You didn’t even go trick or treating, so you can’t talk.” After he’d already made his comeback, he belatedly realized he should’ve made a jab at Tom’s own creepy eyes. Then again, between Matt and Edd they’d probably already done that about every Halloween, so maybe not. As he thought to himself, Tom was saying something.

“...” Well, whatever he said, Matt missed it. Oh well. “Anyways, what are you even doing up this late?” Tom sat down on the left side of the couch, Matt turning to sit normally to make room.

“Er,” Matt was stumped for an answer. There goes his lying streak, he supposed.

Tom got tired of waiting for one, “-You weren’t just trying on contacts in the middle of the night,” he said, because it sounded ridiculous, even to Matt.

He couldn’t think of anything better though. “I was.”

“-In the living room,” It sounded like a question, doubt leaking through.

“Yyes.” With the way things were going, it seemed like the truth might be uncovered if Tom continued. Matt’s leg began to jiggle anxiously.

“Stop that,” Tom said, nudging the vibrating appendage. Matt swallowed, mind running blank of excuses and Tom’s own gears slowly working.

He finally spoke, “Look. Now that we’re alone and all, I think there’s something we should to talk about.” Matt felt his breaths coming in shallow, eyes widening as he realized what this meant. No, no, no, he can’t already know! It’s too soon, they can’t already know. Tom must have noticed his distress, because his perceptive eyes shone concern.

“Are you okay…?” he asked, and Matt had to look away, so that he wouldn’t give anything else away.

“Y-yeah,” he said, only to get him off his back. Well, he needed to try harder than that. “W-what’s there to talk about?” It was a terrible attempt at nonchalance, as his outward demeanor was still panicky.

“Well...” he hesitated, as if debating on whether or not they should really have this conversation, or so Matt hoped. He delved on.

“It’s just something I’ve noticed, the past couple days,” he said, shooting down whatever hopes Matt had to end this ‘interrogation’. “I didn’t notice anything at first, with all the bleach and all, but-” Oh, no. “-as we walked, I began to notice little differences...” This was it. Matt was going to be discovered, and kicked out for sure.

“I didn’t know if Edd should’ve been the one to talk to you about this or not, seeing as he’s a little better with...well. We haven’t talked about it yet.” Edd didn’t know yet? That was one partial relief for Matt. “But Matt, you’ve...”

“-...you’ve reeked of death all day, and you haven’t checked yourself out once since we’ve gone out. And…-” he trailed off, although Matt knew he was already done for even with Tom trying to delay the inevitable for him. Maybe he wouldn’t want to kick him out, or maybe he just didn’t want to believe it himself. 

Matt didn’t want to believe it either though. He never asked to become a vampire, he thought, eyes welling up at the thought of all that he could lose now, the moment Tom dropped the pin.

“Oh, God,” Tom muttered, Matt refusing to look up from his lap. Those two words were the stopper, and once released, Matt couldn’t help the moisture that began to run down his face. He turned his head away, trying to hide it. “I’m sorry.” Maybe he hadn’t hidden it well enough.

Tom let a hand rest on his back, Matt’s shoulders shaking anew. “...Do you want to talk about it?” Matt bit his lip, trying to keep in his sobs as he shook his head ‘no’, face still turned away from him.

It was silent for a bit, save for Matt’s sniffles and shuddering breaths. He eventually gave up on trying to put up a strong front in front of Tom, bringing his sleeve up to wipe what he surely knew was blood. All the while that he cried, Tom sat there, an awkward yet comforting hand steadfast at his shoulder.

“Someone should have gone with you.” Tom’s voice smoothly rode over his sobs, and Matt found it to be true. Maybes and what-if to what could have gone down differently that Halloween night ran through his mind.

Edd could have punched that vampire that turned him right in the nose. Tom could have joined in. The two of them would have stopped Matt from saying anything stupid to provoke the monster. Or, a sick sort of fantasy that snapped Matt back to reality, was what if they’d all been turned into vampires?

As Tom said something softly to him, Matt’s ears rung with one thing, despite the hand that guided him down into a lying position on the couch and tucked his blanket over him. All Matt could think now was that it was too late.

A door shut in the background, and Matt saw that Tom had left. Matt’s glowing eyes stared into the dark, unmoving as he watched the shadows crowd around him. Sure, now he was afraid of the light, but Matt had always been afraid of the dark.

 

\---


	9. The Morning

The shadows tormented Matt all through the night, not a wink more of sleep able to find him. It was still dark when he heard the front door opening, Matt instinctually knowing it was Tom but hiding under his covers anyways until he’d passed. 

Now that Tom knew what he was going through, he would probably go to find Edd. Matt didn’t know why he’d gone out in the night, but nor did he care, seeing as he was biding his time until he’d deal with the confrontation he was sure would happen this morning. He thought about running away, just so he wouldn’t have to see Edd’s face after he found out.

Still, he stayed under his covers, an illusion on comfort as he convinced himself that he couldn’t run away yet because it was dark out. Really though, he didn’t know where he would go, and he hadn’t had much time to think about it, when his thoughts weren’t occupied by other things through these two days. Maybe he would go live with Santa, Matt curiously feeling his ears to find they had an almost suitable point to them. But then again, who would take in a vampire, anyways…? He might as well bury himself and live with Zanta Clause instead, seeing as he was probably just as evil now that he was a monster.

Just as he predicted, a hand placed itself on his blanketed form, making him jump as he hadn’t heard their socked feet approaching before, and he peeled the covers from his face to find Edd sitting above him. Edd’s left hand came towards his cheek, thumb brushing over the skin before Matt shook his face from his grip, burrowing back in his blanket. 

Edd looked at his hand, Matt watching as a red flaky substance was rubbed off in between his friend’s thumb and forefinger. His eyebrows scrunched together.

“Matt, what is this stuff-?” he asked, before Tom came up from behind the couch and whispered something in his ear.

As quietly as he said it, it sounded like he said, “-the freak make-up,” although Matt didn’t know what that meant. Edd nodded, apparently getting whatever code that was for, since they must have talked earlier together.

Edd turned his attention back to him, with that same, unnervingly calm expression. It was strange, how he didn’t even need to say anything, yet still be so disarming, even looking like he’d literally just been dragged out of bed. Matt probably didn’t look any better though…

Looking to Tom, who was still standing behind Edd, he looked like he also hadn’t had any sleep last night, as he usually looked, but this time Matt knew that he hadn’t. He couldn’t find it in himself to pity him for long though, as he remembered he was the one that told Edd about him.

In fact, he was beginning to become impatient with this whole waiting game, as no one had yet to say anything.

He spoke, “So, are we going to get on with it?” His voice was raw, and it hurt to speak, but honestly, it was the least of his problems. It was nice of his friends to try and soften the blow up to here, but maybe it would be best to rip off the band-aid now, so to speak.

He had waited all night for this, after all. Edd glanced back at Tom, before replying.

“Only if you want to,” he said, as if it was still up to Matt anymore. He looked back at the two of them, a bit annoyed and confused that they were dragging this on, but Edd still looked as encouraging as ever. 

“O-Only if I want to?” he asked, feeling the outrageousness of the statement on his tongue. “Don’t you already know?”

“Yes,” Edd said, “You’re a vampire.” It was stated so calmly, as if they were speaking of something as normal as a food preference or the weather. Matt’s eyes widened at the confirmation, and tried seeing how Tom was taking this. He was as blank as Edd was. Didn’t they know what this meant??

“And...you’re not mad?” he asked instead, because he didn’t want to say something like, ‘you’re not scared of me’ or ‘you’re not going to kick me out of the house’, just yet.

“No, Matt.” Edd laughed, a pitying expression on his face. He placed a hand on top of the blankets where he guessed correctly was Matt’s knee. Nobody said anything for a moment, although all attention was on Matt, making him feel smaller.

He wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. Did his friends really accept him?

“Matt, we trrruuuussstt-” Edd drew out the word oddly, eyes nervously flickering towards Tom’s blank ones. “-you.” he finished, smiling to Matt, as if to distract him from the man behind him. Edd rubbed his knee as Tom moved, a blue sleeve coming somewhere behind himself as if to grab something.

Matt wanted to thank Edd for trusting him, even when he couldn’t quite trust himself. He wanted to be pulled into a hug right then, and told that everything would be okay now, that they would work through this together.

He also understood what Tom was grabbing from behind him, metal of a harpoon stick peeking out from in between his friend’s bodies. It didn’t mean that he wanted to die. 

He struggled to move, as Edd granted his internal wish, pulling him into a hug that he found his limbs relaxing into. Tom approached slowly, as Matt tried willing himself to struggle, screaming internally as he could do nothing to stop him from raising his arms. Tom poised to drill the harpoon into him, and Matt buried his face into Edd’s shoulder, not wanting to watch as his face would be penetrated into--.

He jumped for a second time from under the covers, as a hand was placed on his blanketed form. He fearfully peeked out of the covers to find Edd sitting above him, eyes filled with concern.

“Matt, are you okay?” he asked, seeing the terror stricken on his friend’s face. Matt stared at him for a few seconds, reality slowly catching up to him. A parallel to his dream, Tom walked over from behind the couch, head peeking over as if to make sure everything was okay. Matt’s eyes snapped back, and remembering Edd asked him a question, merely nodded, lips too numb to cooperate.

This seemed to relieve Edd a bit, as he smiled warmly at him and said, “Morn’, bud.” He got up, walking around towards the kitchen area. “Do you want anything for breakfast?” As Edd’s voice carried out from the kitchen, Tom stayed for a moment, watching Matt suspiciously. Matt let the covers fall, turning away from the two, hand checking over his face.

He was fine, he told himself, hand shakily brushing over his mussed-up hair. His hand slid down from his head to the ever present wounds on his neck, dashing that notion aside for a new one.

“Tom, can you get the milk for me?” Edd’s voice spoke. Matt turned and saw that Tom had already exited towards the kitchen area. Sounds of butter frying and mixtures whisking leaked into the livingroom area, enticing Matt’s senses. A murmured reply and the telltale sound of an opening fridge finally convinced Matt to get up and search for the comforting noises.

As Matt entered the kitchen, Edd’s attention was pulled to him, and he was about to say something before something cut him off.

“--What is that?” Matt looked around, habitually hoping it was something else, though Edd had clearly been looking at his face. He strode over to him, catching his face in his inspecting hands.

He brushed a forefinger across his cheekbone while squinting at--oh, what must have been his bloody tear tracks. Matt bit his lip, and as if taken a cue from his dream, Tom muttered.

“-the freak makeup.” Matt gawked at him, and Edd looked back as if offended by Tom’s gall. Tom kept his mouth shut for the time being by taking a chug out of the carton of milk.

“Just ignore him,” Edd told him with a roll of his eyes. “He still hasn’t taken off his bad-attitude makeup.” Tom made an indignant noise and walked back towards the fridge. “Hey! I still need that!” Edd pursued him, giving Matt the precious space that he suddenly felt he so needed.

What were they all doing here? What was Matt still doing here? He let time slow down around him, mind rushing trying to decide what would be best for survival: Fight or flight.

If his friends knew, would they accept him with open arms or kill him? Did Matt even want to know right now? He just wanted to pretend that nothing was wrong, that his friends suspected nothing and that he could just keep living normally even as a vampire. But then, Matt remembered how Tom had seen basically everything last night, and how he stood watching him from a distance this morning. And how it was clear that Edd and Tom had had the chance to talk already, a similar plot point as his dream had played out. It was obvious that this would be unavoidable…

...Unless he left. “Hey guys, Imma just-” The two of them looked up from where Edd was cooking and Tom was ‘helping’. “-I’m going to take a walk.” Without waiting for a reply, he strode out, mindful to grab a scarf while stuffing his feet into his boots on his way out.

He needed fresh air, something other than the distractions that he had needed earlier. It was time that he faced these problems of his on his own.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -that's gross Tom. dont drink straight out of the carton
> 
> ((aw, smell that angst in the air. Ahhhh. and thanks so much for the support guys!! I read and enjoy all the feedback I get, so thank youuu owo


	10. Someone to Listen

It was awkward, going out without doing his morning routine. He hadn’t even combed through his hair properly, besides still wearing the rumply, blood stained clothes. And he shuddered to think of what his face looked like, with how lightly he slept that night. He yawned, still feeling the affects of said lack of sleep.

All the passerbys around him were bundled up tightly, their breaths coming out in puffs of smoke in the chilly air. It was strange, how Matt felt numb instead of cold, to the biting wind that blew past the tips of his ears. There was even some frost on the pavement, but inside and out Matt only felt these things distantly, like an impression of something forgotten.

He didn’t have a direction, knowing that he’d eventually get lost and have to struggle to find his way back again. But at least then he could give himself plenty of time to think before facing his friends again.

Eventually Matt had wandered into the shopping district, one where Matt enjoyed going window shopping in, only because once he looked past his reflection he would become enthralled by something he had to have. Stopping in front of a window would usually bring a smile to his face, but perhaps that was a chapter of his life passed, because he could only see the streets behind him.

Why would his friends even want to keep him anymore? They’d already gotten to the comfortable point in their lives where they basically knew everything about the other persons and didn’t need to dodge through any more curve balls. Was there even anything worth keeping anymore, this faceless, joyless vampire shell of a friend that so far has only proved to be a burden? Would they remember anything good about him that still remained? --past his good looks of course, if those were even still there.

Matt walked towards the main square, the hub of everyone’s morning social rounds. He walked towards one of the tables with an umbrella and sat in the shade, boot sloshing in a puddle on his way much to his distaste.

They should much rather kill him out of convenience, than keep him around. That way, they could save themselves the trouble of having to get used to a vampire for a roommate. Matt would, if he didn’t care about his own safety so much.

If it was Matt in their positions, would he too want to kill them? He tried placing either of them in his shoes, trying to judge what he would do. He recalled the many nights where he or another friend would kill the other, and wondered to himself if those dreams could become reality.

He’d become rather desensitized by those murder dreams, so hadn’t really ever sat down and contemplated them, or, at least he couldn’t remember ever doing so. He’d always just chalked them up to that--just dreams. But now that they could potentially become reality…

Matt was usually a very imaginative person, in his opinion, but he couldn’t quite place the scenario in his head. He tried acting it out a bit, sitting up from where he lay slumped on the table, and cleared his throat.

“Hey, Matt. I’m a vampire now,” he spoke, Edd’s lips moving to his speech in his head.

“Wow, that’s great,” he replied. He imagined he would crack a joke about Edd’s name in relation to the Twilight series and laugh about it. Now, if Tom said it…

“Matt, Edd,” he built up, because he felt Tom might be just as reluctant to tell them as Matt currently was. ‘-I’m a vampire.’ Matt didn’t feel comfortable saying it out loud anymore, voice dying down and only lip syncing to the scene in his head. He paused, trying to think of how they’d react.

“Whatever,” Matt said out loud again, because it didn’t sound like a big deal, when he thought about it. But what if they knew all that it entailed? He began feeling silly talking out loud to himself, and wished he had thought to grab one of his toys on the way out, so he could talk to something.

He looked around himself, and soon spotted his prize. A claw machine! He walked past the throngs of people, face lighting up in a way that it hadn’t all morning, and dug into his pockets for change.

...Yes! He hadn’t changed out of his outing clothes, so he still had plenty of money for a few goes at the game. He licked his dry, chapped lips, mentally preparing himself for this endeavor.

He immediately spotted the one he wanted: A plush, cartoon-faced lunchbox-thing. It just spoke to him, deep inside his soul as being a good listener-type. He guided the claw to slowly dock over his desired item and…

He lost it. He shouted out something random in his frustration and tried again.

He finally managed it in his third try, by mere will power alone. Once the toy was safely in his hands, he knew that he would never let it go again.

The table he’d vacated was still free, so he returned to it, sitting down and placing his victory-item onto it. He closed his eyes again, bringing himself back to his original purpose.

“Matt,” he talked to it, mentally naming it Sir Mattilious in his head. “I can see smells now, I can control my speed in an inhuman way,” he began to list.

“I can hear the barest of whispers, I can mentally identify anyone who approaches me, the sun makes my skin itch, I hate blood now, even though I probably have a strong craving for it, I’ve gone on a bloodthirsty rampage that I can’t clearly remember, I can’t see myself in the mirror anymore, and I’m not sure about any other abilities or problems that I have.” He steadily escalated in worseness, in Matt’s opinion, the build-up hopefully brushing any doubts Mattilious had about him. He looked into his stuffed companion’s beady eyes, trying to recall if he missed anything.

“Also,” he said, barely above a whisper, “I think I might be ugly now.” There- he said it all. 

Mattilious would probably be saying something now, if he could, so Matt ‘listened’ to it. He stared at it attentively for a couple moments, eyebrows furrowing as he ‘listened’ to Mattilious’ response.

“Fine!” Matt snapped at it, swiping it off the table and stuffing it into his hoodie pocket. “Be that way.” He stood up, chair clattering in protest as he walked away from the fountain square.

Apparently, the ‘ugliness’ had done it for Mattilious, stating something about Matt having way too much baggage to deal with now. It was rudely stated though, in Matt’s opinion, although the message had come across pristinely.

Well, now Matt couldn’t go home. If he had all of these issues, he should need to get rid of them first, or find a new roommate, before thinking of returning.

Maybe if he could find the vampire who turned him, he could figure out what to do. It sounded like a perfectly logical plan, seeing as a vampire would know what a vampire should do. Or, if only Matt could remember what he looked like, anyways.

He could vaguely remember the route he took on his hunt for candy, so he would travel down there first, and see what he could find. Maybe the vampire would be looking for him! That would be an odd coincidence, he mused.

 

\---


	11. The Alleyway

As he walked, he tried bringing the Halloween night back this his mind. Or, at least the part from before he’d been turned, because there wasn’t much point freaking himself out anymore with after he’d been turned.

He remembered having a stern conversation with one of the neighbors of a house that had a restraining order on him. Some kid had made fun of his costume and then gotten a ton more candy than him at that house, to which the owners didn’t take well to it when he gave the child a strong word. The bunny costume wasn’t supposed to be scary, it was supposed to be ironic.

Matt’s mind half wondered what it would’ve been like to be one of his first victims though, being chased by a man in a bloody bunny suit...although, he’d come home in his normal clothes, so maybe he’d ditched the suit along the way? Weird, since he thought it would’ve been too much trouble in all the pain and hunger he’d been experiencing.

Unless the vampire took it! Matt decided that along with his vampire friend, he would keep an eye out for the pink costume, seeing as it might be a vital clue to his search.

Matt wondered if it had rained recently, with the occasional puddle blocking his path. He was currently walking down a street that was maybe a couple blocks from his house, steadily walking towards the poorer parts of the neighborhood. Afterall, he’d probably find low-life vampires in a more run down, scary setting rather than a nice part like his own. Then again, his own neighbors were pretty low-life, and they lived right next to them, so maybe his theory wasn’t completely sound…

Oh well, he was here now, so he might as well keep up his search. He stayed along the closely knit apartment buildings, having remembered being bitten next to a tall brick wall of some sort. He kept his hands in his pockets, holding onto Sir Mattilious for safety as he walked along more and more ominous paths.

He finally stopped beside a building that rang nostalgically in his brain. He’d been walking for about an hour now, since he began his search, and still hadn’t found a trail...until he looked down at the ground. 

There was a rather dark, splotchy shadow next to this building, trailing all the way into an alleyway beside it. It was dim, in between the two tall buildings, but past the trashcans Matt could see a sign reading to an entrance to a seedy looking place. It wasn’t something that would usually draw Matt in, as he had no interest in either clubbing or drinking, but something about this place was intriguing.

There was a man standing outside the building, and Matt, as he walked around the trashcan, could see police tape was blocking off the door, therefore preventing any legal entrance to the facility. He didn’t want any trouble for the moment, besides the fact that he was turned outdoors rather than indoors, so turned away to leave.

The man spoke, “Are you lost, son?” His voice was gravelly, and a bit stuffy, maybe due to the cold. Matt stopped to politely answer, one foot away from exiting the alleyway.

“No,” he replied. “I was just looking for someone.” His eyes drifted to the neon strips lining the door. The man chuckled, apparently finding something amusing.

“Won’t find any life ‘round here,” he said gravely. He stepped away from the brick wall, and Matt could see his face more clearly now. He was old, his face weathered and unshaven, with a black beanie hat and coat to protect himself from the autumn air. “Haven’t you heard about the ‘incident’?”

As fishy as the man was, Matt must have been drawn here for a reason. “...What ‘incident’?” The man stepped forward, offering his right hand to him and going into his coat with the other. 

“Detective Ramsey, at your service.” He pulled out a badge to show him, as Matt took his hand in his, the detective leading the firm handshake.

“Um, Matt,” he replied, a bit hesitant to give a man of authority his name. The detective shot him a toothy, crooked smile and let go.

“Hey, Matt,” he greeted formally, then began to walk deeper into the alleyway. Matt hesitantly trailed behind, before the man stopped in front of the bar entrance.

Ramsey pointed at the door. “Do you see this here little entrance?” Matt nodded. “It’s made of straight oak. Took the police about an hour to finally bust in to investigate the scene. T’was blocked, you see.” He rubbed his nose with his thumb, then pointed to the area Matt was currently standing on.

“And out here, where we got the initial report from, was a woman. About in her 20s, I believe.” He made eye contact with Matt. “She was dead. So were all the people in the bar.” Matt stopped breathing, suddenly realizing why his feet took him here.

“They say,” Ramsey continued. “-that strange things go on in this town. We usually get a report like this about once every few months, sometimes even a year.” He stuffed a hand into his pocket. “Never before has there been such a messy, loud incident like this one. And do you know where it directly points at?” Matt took a step back, wondering if he should flee.

The detective stepped closer to him, grabbing his shoulder. “Vampires.” Oh no, did the detective suspect him? “Sir, I have a warrant that juristics that I have the right and authority to take any bite molds of passerbys that come back to this scene.” Matt felt the detective’s grip was strong on him, and his scent hostile.

Bite molds? A warrant? “Can I...see this warrant?” Matt licked his suddenly dry lips, covering up the urge to bite his lower one. The detective’s face faltered, apparently not prepared for Matt’s perceptiveness. Matt had dealt with the court multiple times before though, so had plenty of experience keeping the cops on their toes and off his back, despite his continual lack of judgement to get in trouble in the first place.

“Request denied,” he grunted, shoving Matt up against a wall. He let go though, digging out of his pockets the said bite mold, along with…

“Hey, you can’t arrest me!” He had pulled out handcuffs, metal dangling threateningly from his left hand.

“You’re a suspect of this crime,” he smoothly replied. “Now, turn around, with your hands on the wall.” 

“No,” Matt refused, remembering to breathe. The detective knew his face now, and if the police really were looking for vampire suspects, he would be in trouble. They wouldn’t have trouble tracking him down, after all, with his record in their possession.

“What did you just say to me?” The detective’s stance matched his scent now, hand coming back to where there was surely a weapon of some sort. Matt glared back at him, steadily gaining confidence.

“No,” he ordered. He felt and saw a dark aura gathering around him, like in his dream with the same aura that vampire had walked with, its powers tangibly emanating around him. The detective’s eyes widened, and his jaw became slack.

“No...” he repeated. Matt smirked, a bit confused with this reaction, but going along with it.

“I was never here,” Matt told him, willing and hoping that this was what he thought it was. It was as if his body knew what he wanted and was granting it for him, reaching the detective’s mind and having him repeat it.

“You were never here...”

“You do not have a search warrant.”

“I do not have a search warrant...”

“And you do not touch innocent civilians,” Matt sniffed indignantly, pit in his stomach at being forced around by the detective returning.

“And I do not touch innocent civilians…?” the detective echoed obediently, although a bit waveringly. He looked as if he’d been casted a spell on, staring blankly ahead into Matt’s eyes. Matt broke eye contact with him, satisfied with his work here.

“Thank you, detective.” He pleasantly saluted him with a nod of his head and strode out of the alleyway. Once he was out, he began to stroll from whence he came, figuring he’d gone too far down this route.

As he walked, a grin began to spread on his lips, amazed with what had just happened. He’s literally just told the detective what to think, and he repeated it back to him, like a puppet being commanded to dance. He was almost positive that he wouldn’t have anymore trouble from him in the future.

It was exhilarating, commanding that power. The earlier fear of the man had been completely erased the moment he dug into that dark aura, and replaced with it was a headiness that he could take on the world. He laughed, a bit delirious with the sudden positive energy flowing through his emotions.

At hearing his voice float through the empty streets, he calmed down a bit. So, he had another freaky power, one where he could control the thoughts and emotions of other people with just his will power. That didn’t sound too...safe, for other people around him. It worked out well for him, but what about the people being commanded, mainly speaking of his friends.

He pushed those thoughts aside, hesitantly accepting that this was just another part of him that he would need to come to terms with, and kept on walking forward. It was the only thing he could do right now.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (why do I keep adding random ocs to move the plot along?) Thanks for reading up to this point so far! Kudos and Comments are appreciated, as always!


	12. Tattoo Gained

The more he walked, the more that Matt started to notice the aching feeling in his gut that usually meant he was hungry. He didn’t have his phone on him to check, but a park clock told him that it was about noon-ish.

Yesterday’s meal test hadn’t gone horribly, so maybe he could continue to sustain himself on human food and not have to worry about drinking blood ever again. It was a light thought, compared to the permanency of his new vampire condition looming over his life now.

Matt made his way to a random cafe, ordering himself a croissant and a tea. If Tom and Edd were here, Edd would usually order a coffee and biscotti, while Tom would change his orders around depending on the day. Matt nearly forgot to tell the lady what kind of tea he wanted, as he brushed thoughts of his friends aside.

Maybe Matt was kidding himself, thinking that he could up and leave his friends, after so many years of living around them. It would probably serve as a wake-up call, once it came to it, on how dependant he’d become to them over the years. A large part of Matt was hoping that they wouldn’t let him leave, that they would come busting in through the cafe doors, demanding that Matt let them into his problems. He probably wouldn’t fight them, seeing as their presence would be proof enough that they were willing to go the extra mile to adjust to Matt’s new vampire lifestyle.

But, even as Matt stared at the cafe doors ahead of him, no one burst in to see him. The bell jingled as a random business man came up to the front counter to order himself an espresso. His friends operated on terms of convenience and level of interest, and since when, these last couple days, had Matt been good on either of those?

No, it was selfish of Matt to think so, after all the ways his friends had already reached for him in the past. Matt sipped his tea, before finally taking the care to grab a napkin and wipe his face clean of any excess dried blood, although finding that most of it had flaked off during his walk. He didn’t know why he did it, since he still had dark circles under his eyes, freckles exposed, and an overall rumply appearance, but maybe it was step one to feeling a little less undesirable. He weakly smiled into his tea, pretending that he could still see his appearance in it and that he liked what he saw.

It managed to pick him up only a little bit, by the time he left the cafe to roam the streets again. He’d needed some motivation to keep looking for the vampire, an inkling of hope for him to smoothly transition back into the world. His scarf had loosened quite a bit since he’d first put it on, so he readjusted it, better securing it around his neck.

The police were apparently on the lookout for vampires, so it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to ask around too boldly. However, Matt was growing tired of wandering aimlessly with no vampire in sight, and would appreciate other people's insights on the matter. The issue was, where could Matt ask around without being called on to the cops about it?

He needed to find a place where no questions were asked...Ahah! Matt knew just the place, and it wasn’t too far from the park either.

Matt burst through the doors of the unsuspecting building, standing strong and dramatic as he declared, “I’m looking for answers.” Some of the artists looked up from where they were stationed at, but most of them kept at their work. 

“Only if you’re also looking for a tattoo,” a burly man spoke to him. He was bald, fashioning many tattoos that he prided himself in giving, but most notably he was also very shirtless. Matt thought the place smelled rather strongly of testosterone.

“Uh,” Matt hadn’t prepared a comeback for that, and was the reason why he was soon dragged over to a table to be worked on. He thought that he recognized the man though…”Jim…?”

“Timone, actually,” the same large man corrected, preparing his needles. “So, what are you getting again?” It wasn’t as if Matt had told the man what he wanted in the first place, but for some reason, Matt already had a clear picture of what he apparently wanted.

“I want a pink bunny, right down here,” he pulled down his boot and exposed his ankle. “Right next to the jolly roger.” Timone didn’t blink at his request, rather shooting him a calculating look.

“Also, try and make it look like a bunny costume--no! A man. A bunny that stands like a man. A manly bunny.” 

“Hey, you’ve come down here before, haven’t you?” 

Matt thought for a moment, trying to recall. It probably was to get his jolly roger then, hadn’t it? As he thought to himself, the other man supplied for him proof that he’d known him.

“...Matt, right?” At Matt’s surprised look, Timone barked out a laugh. “I am right! You look good, man.” Now, when had Matt met this strong, burly man before…? He couldn’t exactly remember, but he smiled friendlily, seeing how excited the other man was.

The man had Matt prop his foot up for him, while Matt spoke. “Er, when have we met again?” He felt a little left out of the loop, because when was he the sort to get along with such an uncouth looking guy?

“You don’t remember?” His smile faltered, before he filled in for him, “We were part of the same crew.” The crew of what? Matt didn’t want to ruin the man’s spirits anymore though, so he kept his confusion to himself. Maybe he should play along, seeing as the more he got along with the man the more likely he was to get information.

“Oh, yeah! I remember now,” he lied, then breaking out into chuckles of his own. “Oh, those were good times.”

“They were good times,” he agreed, a misty-eyed look crossing his face. Er, Matt wasn’t sure how to react, other than continuing to nod, as if too remembering those ‘times’.

...Perhaps it was time that Matt practiced his bluffing again. “Do you remember the guy with the hair?” he asked, as if sharing in some joke he’d had while in this ‘crew’. Timone shot him a funny look.

“What guy?” His face was closed, and Matt suddenly felt as though he’d made a grave mistake with those few words.

“Uh, nevermind,” he backtracked, not wanting to risk not being able to start any more conversation with him. Thankfully, Timone answered again.

“Oh, do you mean the captain?” 

“Uh,” A captain? As in, a captain of a pirate ship? Matt imaged a captain that looked sort of like Captain Hook, long black curls cascading down their back, and felt as though he could supply a good opinion on him. “Well, his hair certainly did make a statement, I thought,” he said vaguely.

Timone laughed and shook his head, “You yourself were always one for a statement though.” Whatever that meant, it amused him greatly. Matt laughed along with him, still not sure why he was laughing but doing so anyways.

“So,” Timone spoke up again, laughter through with. He was working at a steady pace on Matt’s skin while he talked. “What brings you back here again?”

“Um,” Matt thought for a moment. “A tattoo?”

“You said you wanted ‘answers’,” Timone reminded.

Oh, yeah. “Oh yeah,” Matt thought aloud. Well, at least he was brought back to things he was aware of happening, Matt feeling a little more in his element.

“I’m looking for someone. Someone who knows something about vampires.”

Timone raised an eyebrow in his direction. “You lookin’ about the incident?”

“No,” Matt replied. “I’m here for something much more...personal.”

“Hm,” Timone grunted, pausing to inspect his work. “Well. I don’t know if they’re any expert or anything, but I do know a real vampire fanatic, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“That’s fine.” Anything would do, at this point, even if it ended up getting him in trouble. Matt didn’t have much to lose anymore, or so it seemed anyways.

“Their name is Cherri,” With the way he said her name, it almost sounded like he said ‘Sherry’. “They come here occasionally, usually for a new occultish design or whatever. And they’re very chatty about their work...”

“She’s obsessed with vampires and the likes, and regularly deals with people interested in those things. If you go to anyone about your ‘vampire-curiosity’, it would be her.” Timone set his needles down for a moment, walking over to a counter and digging through a drawer for something. He finally came back, holding a sheet of paper.

“The number’s the same as her business card though, just a fair warning.” He handed Matt the phone number and got back to work on his leg.

“Thanks,” Matt finally said, after mulling over what Timone might’ve meant by a ‘fair warning’. Timone grunted back to him, probably his way of saying ‘you’re welcome’, Matt figured, by the returning good atmosphere.

As Matt exited with his fresh tattoo, Timone said one last farewell, something about ‘anyone that’s a friend of the jolly roger’s a friend of his’, and that Matt was welcome back there anytime. It lifted Matt’s spirits quite a bit, even if it was just some random man who didn’t know a thing about Matt saying so. Being welcome anywhere at this low of Matt’s life so gratuitously made Matt’s heart feel warm inside.

Besides that, shouldn’t Matt start getting used to trying to appeal to random strangers that might accept a vampire like him? He still didn’t like to think of if his future confrontation with his friends were to go south, and would much rather start searching for a payphone that Matt could dial the number he was handed.

With one set of knuckles bunched tight around the slip of paper and the other gripping his plush, he set off down the road again on his quest.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \--I don't know why, but I really like the idea of Matt having been on a pirate ship before (its a reoccurring theme in my roleplays for some reason).
> 
> Anywho, Comments and Kudos are appreciated, as always~.


	13. Sweet Cherri

The stinging on the inside of Matt’s right ankle served as an annoying, but good distraction for as he walked. He didn’t know what possessed him to get the tattoo, nor could he remember what possessed him the first time, but figured it was a little too late to have regrets about it now. Besides, he kinda liked his ‘manly bunny’.

When he’d finally found a payphone to call the woman, he was met with a rather awkward opening from someone who sounded as though they were in their 60s. He quickly explained to her why he was calling, and the conversation got much easier to reroute towards a very professional meeting to talk about vampires.

“Vampires, huh?” the smoker’s voice spoke. “What’s got you so interested?”

“I...have a friend, that’s been somewhat impacted by something that seems vampire-ish. So...” It was a weak cover up, but he wasn’t sure how much he could trust this lady yet. He’d much rather talk more about this in person.

There was a breathy laugh on the other end, one that got Matt pulling the phone away from his ear, chills running up his spine. “Well, I’m free this afternoon, if you’re really serious ‘bout it.”

“Er, will you charge?” Matt felt as though he should ask, because the claw machine had taken quite a bit from him.

“That depends. Where did you hear of me?”

“Um, Timmy?” There was a pause on the other end. Had Matt gotten the name wrong? “I just heard about you today, when I got my tattoo..”

“Oh!” There was a barked laughter on the other end. “I know your ‘Timmy’, haha!” She guffawed at the name for another second, before recovering. “Alright, I’ll do it free of charge. As long as I get to hear how he reacted to that nickname, haha!” Matt chuckled nervously, since he still couldn’t remember the guy’s not-nickname.

She set up a place where they could grab a cup of coffee and maybe see just how interested Matt was in the supernatural, then go from there. They would be meeting in about an hour, but Matt didn’t have much to do in the meantime, without spending more money on arcade games that is, so he went straight to the restaurant to hold up fort.

Matt had plenty of time to get some refills of water and some mints to fill him while he waited. Both items combined served to remind him that he hadn’t had a chance to brush his teeth that morning, and Matt made sure to order extra mints. 

When somebody finally approached his table, he was in the middle of playing mint-tennis with his stuffed toy. Looking at her in person, the first thing Matt noticed was that she was a lot younger than she had sounded, maybe in her 30s or 40s rather than elderly years.

She shook his hand and said, “-I hope you weren’t waiting too long.”

“Oh, naw.” He said, postponing his little game and just fiddling with his toy. “I’m Matt, by the way.” She smiled kindly at him and sat across from him.

“Cherri,” she reintroduced. She was looking at the object in Matt’s hands curiously, so Matt filled in for her.

“This is Sir Mattilious,” he said proudly, turning it so it ‘faced’ her. “I won him before I came here.”

“It’s very cute,” she complimented. Matt beamed, because he thought so too.

She moved the conversation, “So, you got a ‘tat?”

“...Pardon me?” Was that an insult, he wondered.

“A tattoo,” she reiterated. Oh.

“Oh,” he said, pulling up his ankle, since he might as well prove it to her. The skin around his bunny was still a little red, but it felt better than it had an hour ago.

“Aw, that’s adorable,” she said.

“It’s a manly bunny,” Matt supplied, feeling as though ‘adorable’ couldn’t possibly encase its awesomeness. The two chatted a bit more, ordering food at one point or another. She rementioned the name ‘Timmy’, to which Matt had to explain that he often gave people nicknames without their knowledge. It was a trick of his to try and remember their names, personally, even though it usually just threw Matt even more off the mark than need be.

Pleasantries aside, they finally got down to business again.

“So,” she said, taking a sip of water. “-Vampires?”

“Yeah,” he agreed, coming back on task. “What do you know about them?”

“I dunno, what do you want to know?” she contradicted. Matt blinked at her, before digging for his first question.

“Have you met any real ones before?” That should be his first question, because if she had, he might have some hope at finding them.

“I have,” she said, igniting Matt’s interest. “I’ve met people who were born a vampire, people who’ve been turned by the taste of blood, those who’ve identified as a vampire, etcetera.”

“Oh.” None of those sounded like him, or not exactly. “What about those who’ve been turned by being bitten by another vampire?” His heart pounded, knowing he was getting a little closer to his own condition and also closer to answers.

“It’s hard to say,” she said cryptically, before saying, “-but I think I have.” There was an odd glint in her eye as she said this, cutting into her meat loaf.

“Really?” Matt wasn’t eating anymore, holding attentively on her words. “What were they like?”

“Just like any of us,” she said. “...You seem awfully interested for someone asking for a friend.” There was suspicion in her voice that raised a flag in Matt’s mind.

“I’m just...a bit of a fanatic, too, I guess..” He bit his bottom lip, not sure what else he could say to get her off his trail. She shrugged, taking a bite out of her food.

“What else?” Matt asked, feeling a lull in the conversation. She finished chewing.

“I’ve probably only met one once before,” she said thoughtfully. “They had this...aura about them.” She waved her hand through the air, trying to connect her vague terms for him. “...They were one of the most handsome people I’ve ever met, I think.” This sparked a hope in Matt’s chest for a moment, before she continued, lost in thought. “-But also, very dull. Lackluster. I think they were in a slump at the time.” She finished, before making eye contact with Matt again.

“...What kind of slump?” Matt wanted to hear more about this person, if they were anything like him.

“They were...having problems. It was why they came to me,” she said with a sad shake of her head. Both of Matt’s elbows were resting on the table as he leaned forward, hanging onto what she was saying.

But, Matt also had a question that needed answered. “Did they seem...dangerous?”

“Yes, of course.” She laughed at the audacity of his question, before sobering up again. “Yes, but, also no. They had a way of hiding their powers, I guess. So if you didn’t know it, they wouldn’t seem dangerous to you, like they hadn’t to me. But looking back at it, if I’d known what powers were bunched up inside of them, and didn’t know them, maybe I would’ve been more cautious.” That was...an interesting observation, but not exactly something applicable for Matt, currently. He stored it away in his mind for later, anyways-- if he didn’t forget it by then.

“But, how did you find out?”

“Find out what?” she asked. 

“What their powers were...what their problem was,” Matt grouped the two together. He wanted to know everything, so if he reached that ‘slump’, he’d know how to deal with it. She watched his face for a second, as if trying to judge something about him.

“Why don’t I just show you, after our meal.” She was already pretty much done, but Matt still had quite a ways to go to finish his food. He nodded anyways, scarfing down his food like he was Sonic the Hedgehog. By the time Matt was finished, Cherri was sipping the last of her water with a coy smile on her face. Matt wiped his mouth politely, a little embarrassed on having to pig out like that in front of a lady.

“Well then,” she laughed breathily. “Let’s go.”

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((when you keep accidentally adding more random ocs >_<))
> 
> Welp, here another chapter! Thanks for keeping up so far guys!!


	14. Mysteries Ressolved

They got the chance to talk a bit on the way to what she informed him was her home.

“So, how long has your friend been ‘affected’ by vampirism?” she asked him, taking along his right side.

“Er, not long. A couple days, at most,” he replied honestly. Why else would she be asking, unless...“Is there a cure for it?” That would be amazing! It would blow away all of his problems at once and--

“Not most conventionally.” Before Matt could ask what that meant, she continued. “Why don’t I show you later, after we’ve shown you the book.” 

“There’s a book?” Oh no, Matt hated reading. He frowned.

“Yes. But it’s not something typically found at your local library,” she explained, as if answering to his ‘doubtful’ frown.

“Oh.” Well, he’d cross that bridge when he came to it, he guessed. “Are there pictures in it?”

She laughed for some reason, “Yes, there are some.”

“Good,” he returned seriously, throwing her into another laughing fit. Was Matt really that funny, or was it something about old people humor that he didn’t get? First Timone, now Cherri.

Her house wasn’t too far, thankfully, as Cherri’s laugh was getting rather obnoxious. It sounded more like wheezing and whispering than an actual laugh, which disturbed Matt even more when it was in close proximity to his ear. She calmed down as they approached her front door, bending down to slip out a key from under her mat and unlocking the door.

It was rather cramped inside, where the hallways were nearly shoulder to shoulder for Matt to walk in. He followed her lithe body, navigating so he would avoid knocking over a rather interesting looking lamp fixture that had a skull embedded into it, all the way into a study area.

There were even more cool objects inside, things ranging from skeletons to masks to old dusty books along shelves that covered nearly every wall. There were no windows inside this room, only the door and an overhanging light bulb serving to barely light the room at all. Cherri walked straight towards one bookshelf in particular, while Matt stood, thinking of whether or not it would be sanitary to take a seat at her couch, which was set behind a table covered in old junk.

“I haven’t pulled this thing out in ages,” she conversed. Well, thinking he might as well settle himself for some ‘reading time’, he pulled up the lone red-cushioned chair that stood directly next to the couch, deeming it more safe to sit on.

There was a pause, where his host was too busy looking for the book to fill in the silence, giving Matt time to think for a moment. He soon asked, “-Can vampires eat garlic?”

“Yes, but their sense of smell is much higher than ours, so it tends to overpower them so much that they don’t tend to like it.”

“Hm, interesting,” Matt said. How was it that she knew all of this stuff? He was about to ask, when she gasped.

“Yes! Here it is.” She turned back to him, holding her prize in both hands. She blew some dust off of the cover, making Matt cringe a bit as it was blown in his direction. “Sorry,” she said, noticing his discomfort.

She walked over and sat on the couch next to him, turning over some pages. “Now, let’s see...” She finally turned over to one she liked, pointing at a picture and heading. “There! Vampires.” She thrust the book towards him, to which he hesitantly took it as it was practically forced into his lap. Before he could ask for instructions, she’d stood up, leaving him to figure out how to translate the text alone.  _ Well _ , he looked down at the boring looking pages,  _ here goes nothing _ …

_ Ugh _ , he thought, eyes glossing over as he struggled to read over some history section.  _ This feels like school again _ . He did come here to learn, but he was hoping to have a better instructor for this, one that wouldn’t thrust a textbook at him to read. Cherri had left somewhere, and listening in he could hear activity coming from her kitchen.

The book did have pictures, but of the small, ugly variety. They depicted vampires to look like horrible, scary creatures, which he was nothing like. Peeking back, their section was placed right after some werewolf section, which did nothing for the book’s credibility, in Matt’s opinion.

Cherri didn’t seem like she’s be back anytime soon, so Matt tried to be productive again...He imagined to himself, that if Edd was the artist for this book, vampires would probably be given a much better name. 

In the book, they had vampires made out to be a plotting, conniving people, disguised as villagers that would seduce their women and drain blood from their unsuspecting victims. It went on that vampires would appear out of the shadows, materializing before their eyes sometimes, and disappear just as fast, like a spooked bat flying out of a window. Vampires were blood thirsty beasts in their eyes, and with the amount of fear written into it, Matt could almost believe it.

There was a section about being turned, which seemed much more relevant to Matt, so he skipped the rest of the ‘abilities’ section and went straight on to it. People weren’t usually turned, it seemed, but it wasn’t unheard of either. There was a legend in it, where those people that were turned would go about their day just like any other human, before going on a violent rampage that would only be sedated by a large amount of blood. It was said that this condition was once the cause of a whole village to be wiped out.

Matt remembered the first night he was turned, and wondered if that was the bloody massacre that the book was talking about. He severely hoped that it was, or else he had to be prepared for the worst to happen later on.

The book went on to conclude that anyone identified as a vampire, usually signified by two puncture wounds on the neck and long, protruding fangs, their condition alone was punishable by death. Matt closed the book so that his thumb held his place, staring ahead of him.

This thing must have been written in the medieval times, with how wordy it was. It was starting to make Matt’s head spin, both out of shock at the language and with the contents of  what he just read.

Finally, Cherri chose this time to walk in. She was holding a tray with some cheese sandwiches on it, their crusts cut off. “So, how are you doing?” Matt didn’t respond, swallowing dryly, following her movements with his eyes. She frowned, pushing some nick-nacks aside and setting the tray down on the coffee table. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said, because he wasn’t a vampire to her, so nothing should be wrong with what he read. He couldn’t help the most pressing thought in his mind after reading it, saying, “-a bloody rampage...?” She sighed sadly, as if she had been expecting his reaction.

“Yes. That’s exactly what my vampire friend had been worried about before, when he came to me.” Another vampire had come to her, worried about it. Probably because they’d somehow been affected by it-.

“-Did it happen more than once?” How else could they have been worrying about it, unless they knew that it was a problem to begin with?

“...Yes,” she said. Matt’s gaze dropped fearfully to his lap, afraid that she would read it in his eyes alone what he was thinking. She sat at the couch, not touching the sandwiches that she had brought, her full attention on him. “You should eat,” she suggested softly.

It hardly seemed like the time to eat, rather more the time to be sick. Looking at the sandwiches and seeing the cheese smell wafting up, he’d much rather not. He shook his head.

“No thank you,” he refused politely. She placed a hand on his shoulder, making him look up to see her concerned expression gracing her wrinkled, but still pretty features. Matt randomly noted in his mind, not having given it thought before, that her black hair looked to have been teased to become as frizzy as it was, sporting the occasional braided extension, framing her model-like face uniquely. Her appearance served to pull him from his initial disgust with the contents of the book, allowing him to finally ask another question.

“Did you ever fix his problem?” Matt asked, somehow recalling that she’d called the vampire a ‘he’. She looked towards the foot of his chair, breath rushing out of her nose as she thought for a moment.

“I think so,” she answered. Matt was about to ask ‘how’, when she interrupted, “-but I think I should first correct some of the book’s misconceptions of vampires.” Well, that worked for Matt too. 

She continued, “Not everyone who’s bitten by a vampire will turn. In fact, it’s extremely rare for it to occur at all, because they don’t choose when to turn another person.” To Matt’s surprise, she pulled down the collar of her shirt quite a bit for him, giving him view of...her own puncture marks! A smile unconsciously was placed on his lips, to which she grimaced.

“For that, I must apologize.” Wait--.

“Apologize? For what?” It wasn’t as if she’d turned him. The one who turned him was a man. Or at least Matt was pretty sure he was turned by a man.

“Me and my boyfriend have been trying for years to be able to turn me into a vampire you see,” she revealed to him, letting go of her shirt collar to hide the markings. “So, it’s a surprise for a new one to turn up so soon after the Halloween night that he’d gone hunting.” She stood up, ignoring the way Matt was now openly gawking at her as she took the book from him. 

She paced across the room to return it. “There is a way to prevent uncontrollable rampages, and that is a steady supply of blood being put into your system.”

“My system? I’m afraid you’ve got it--” Matt tried to cover up, sensing that although the atmosphere was rather calm at the moment, that something would soon be up if he didn’t defend himself now.

She continued over him, “It had gotten rather troublesome receiving blood donations peaceably with his occupation, so we’d agreed that this method of obtaining blood was sound. That it would protect everyone from the beast in the long run.” She apparently felt as though she must defend the actions of her boyfriend rather than hear Matt out. 

She strode to another bookshelf, saying, “Now, you were asking about a cure earlier, and I have just the thing.” There, that’s when the atmosphere finally turned threatening. Matt stood up, seeing that she’d grabbed some sort of machete from her collections. 

She hadn’t turned around just yet, talking with her back to him. “I’m afraid that your turning was a mistake, and that it would be quite troublesome to have to compete for the same foods-- especially with your noisey fiasco just a few nights ago.”

“Wait--,” he tried, but she’d made up her mind. She leapt at him, to which he ducked at when the machete was swung clear through where his head used to be. Yikes!

“Stop!” He then remembered something, an ability that he had that could stop her. He looked into her dark eyes, focusing in on her. “Stop!”

She stared back intently at him, and he felt something rebounding in him. She stood there for another moment, before walking towards him. It didn’t work?

“Your will isn’t as strong as mine, nor is that power as effective when the other person knows to fight back,” she advised. Was she telling him this for future reference or was she just caught up in having fun trying to kill him?

“Um, good to know?” he said, backing away a bit before his legs his the plush chair again. He wondered how he should fight back, seeing as he should have some nifty vampire abilities up his sleeve. Then again, looking towards the open door, an exit also seeming promising, that is, until she thrust her hand in the direction of the door.

As if she’d physically pushed it, it swung shut. Matt cursed to himself, brushing aside thoughts on how cool that was as she held the machete in front of herself again.

“I’ve dabbled in a bit of different arts,” she confessed. Was she a witch or a magician, Matt wondered. Being distracted, he barely had time to react as suddenly he was tipped backwards in his chair.

Cherri pulled something under him, before suddenly he could see that a chair leg was sticking out of his abdomen. He blinked, confused at where that came from. She was now leaning over him, her hand still not left her weapon as he brought him back to reality by pushing the blade up to his throat.

“Luckily for me, you’re quite new at this,” she said, bringing the machete away. Wait, Matt slowed down time in a stroke of genius, wondering what she meant by that. She was currently in motion to drive the machete down at his throat though, he reminded himself, so rather than mull over what she meant by that, he wondered on how to get out of this.

He was pinned by this...makeshift wooden stake. Not to mention the lady was extremely close to chopping his head off. Would the wooden stake not already kill him? He supposed not, since she was going to all of the effort.

She was maybe two inches from his throat now. Okay, think brain, think think think. Thinking was for school though, like that textbook...Hey, the textbook.

He tried to remember if he’d read anything useful. Well, it had ugly drawings, it had offensive language in it...No...Maybe something about shadows. That would be cool, if he could literally materialize through shadows, Matt thought.

Well, he was one inch away from being killed anyways, so he might as well try it. If it didn’t work, he could always push her away, he thought. 

He thought hard for a moment. What would shadows feel like? Dark, scary, maybe cold. He tried resummoning his aura...nothing.

He pushed her away, making contact with her just as the machete seemed like it should have been cutting into him. He came back to present speed to watch her fly through the air, her back hitting her bookshelves and causing dust to burst out everywhere.

“You should really dust this place,” Matt said with a raised finger to her, although she probably didn’t see it, from where she laid sprawled, coughing near the wall. Oh well. 

He ripped the wooden thing out of him so that he could sit up again. Nevermind that he had a hole in his midsection, because something cold was trickling down his neck…”Oh, darn it.” He glared in her direction, hand coming back with blood. She nicked him! “You nicked my jugular!”

She spat to the side, struggling to stand. “My boyfriend will do a lot more to you, once he gets here.” She was quite the feisty one, Matt thought, as she looked all around herself, probably for her weapon.

“It will show too,” he complained, still about the nick on this throat. What was he going to say to his friends about it, once he came home?

“Do you hear me?!” she yelled, pulling his attention back to her. 

“Yeah,” he drawled. “I guess I should get going then.” He really didn’t want to have a confrontation with another vampire, especially an older, experienced one. He picked up a sandwich as he walked towards the door. “Do you mind if I eat this on the way?” He held up the sandwich for her to see what he was talking about. He wasn’t really that hungry, but figured since he had quite a bit of a walk ahead of him, he’d soon get hungry. She growled at him as she slipped on something, her ankle bent wrong. Ew.

He shrugged, taking her inhospitality as a go to do whatever he wanted, taking the sandwich and a napkin and leaving the weird home. He thought about snatching up the cool lamp on his way out, just as a souvenir of surviving a witch’s house, but figured that the sandwich would be enough. Plus, if her machete had made a scar, which it better not have, then that would be proof enough.

Okay, scratch that. Just thinking of the possibility of her machete marring his skin drove him to go back and snatch up her creepy lamp, hurrying as he heard her stumbling through the hallways after him. It wasn’t stealing if it was from a creepy witch trying to kill him, after all.

As he resumed walking, munching on his sandwich, he felt as though he’d gained more answers than not. The sandwich was doing nothing to ease the literal pit in his stomach, but at least his stomach seemed to be doing fine on its own. Probably. 

He might’ve still have been running on adrenaline, because as he walked some more, he began to stumble. Matt was more worried about what he looked like to the afternoon passerbys, so slipped into a random alleyway to recover from his sudden dizzy spell. His head felt hot and the world was spinning, so he leaned back against the cold bricks, willing his body to regain control.

He wanted to think about seeing his friends again, now that he’d found a way to keep his friends out of danger. He wanted to think about precautions, against getting into more trouble with the vampire couple. But now, all he could think about was getting some sleep.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gnite, Matt
> 
> Also thanks so much for the continued support!! ((some of you are just so sweet, gah))) Kudos and Comments are good fuel.


	15. Mr. Mysterious Feeling

Matt’s face was being pressed up against something cold and hard. Where was he…?

He sat up slowly, allowing his vision to stop dotting out while he held the side of his pounding head. He was wet, lying on some pavement in a random alleyway, and it was dark out. He must’ve passed out, he figured…

Oh yeah, hadn’t he been visiting that one lady and gotten into a fight? He must have passed out from blood loss or something. Ignoring the half-eaten sandwich that lay floating in a red puddle beside him, he stood up.

He clutched his cramping mid-section, muscles bunched tight for whatever reason that Matt didn’t want to investigate at that moment, and walked on. He felt tired again, but figured it would be better to sleep at home than out in the open. 

Feeling Sir Mattilious getting a bit in the way of his clutching, he belatedly noticed that his lamp souvenir was gone. Thinking he must have left it behind, he told himself he’d get it in the morning, as he was already on his doorstep. Jiggling the doorknob and finding it locked, he went into his jean pockets for his key. All of his limbs were so tired and shaky, it was a wonder how he’d managed to get the key into the lock, as he pushed the door open.

It was dark inside the house. The TV was still on, and walking deeper in, he found Edd slumped down in front of it, looking with half-lidded eyes at the screen.

“Oh, you’re back,” Edd noted, not taking his eyes off the screen. 

“Yeah,” Matt hummed tiredly and said curiously, “You weren’t staying up for me, were you?”

“Mh, no.” Matt didn’t think so, relaxing at the normalcy. “I just got caught up in...” he trailed off, becoming mesmerized by whatever the screen was doing once more. Matt too, watched the screen for another moment more, before fatigue convinced him to get a move on to bed.

He left without another word, dragging his feet along the hardwood, hand returning to his stomach as the other felt along the wall for support. He wondered if he should go to the hospital for it…

The air was blissfully clean when he walked back into his room, and he noticed that somebody had gone and opened his window for him. He felt a bit of gratitude for that, but continued walking on over to his nightstand, picking up his phone and contemplating using it.

His friends may not have gone out to look for him, but he did notice one missed call from their home phone number on it. He wished he could smile at this too, the corners of his mouth struggling to move. He was starting to feel a bit woozy though, head spinning so much that he fell face first into his bed, knees giving out on him.

It was uncomfortable lying on his stomach, so he turned over, reaching into his stomach pouch and pulling out the main source of his discomfort. Matt looked at Sir Mattilious, its face smiling, oblivious to the whirlpool in his head, not really thinking of anything in particular. He felt sick and tired at the same time, and his mind was growing fuzzier by the second. And there was an odd taste of bile growing in his throat.

Matt suddenly sat up, just in time as he struggled to breathe, coughing up something onto his floor. Opening his eyes again, he saw that it was blood. His mind noted that it was a shame, since he’d recently cleaned those floors. Matt fell back onto his side, relief at being able to breath again not lasting long as the spinning continued.

The cramp in his middle decided that it didn’t like that movement, seizing up, causing Matt to curl up, trying to ease his pain. The pain was still there, lasting as a dull ache in his belly, but he could finally let go a bit. He continued to lay there in a fetal position, waiting out the vertigo.

Matt breathed heavily through his nose, air coming in and out, accelerating. His eyes were open, but his vision continued to blur out of focus, leaving him staring ahead at nothing. He couldn’t focus on anything, until finally, a pinprick of definity hit him.

He felt it for a split second, around his neck area, and immediately knew what it was. He licked the back of his front teeth, fascinated at the way that it enhanced the feeling, growing stronger as his teeth grew number. Mr. Unnamable Feeling was back-.

-And it felt good.

His body thought so too, eyes blinking shut and open again, to immediately start searching for the one thing that the Unnamable Feeling wanted. Matt smiled, teeth baring at the desire, something so relieving from the pain he’d just been feeling.

He wanted it, and he wanted it badly. He sat up quickly, eager to get a move on, but tripping as his stomach seized up again. Matt made a frustrated noise through his teeth, hands scrambling for a purchase as he got on his feet again.

He knew what he wanted-- no, needed, and he knew it was close by. He could smell it in the air, through all of the smells that he’d once named familiar. These familiar smells would lead him straight to his preys.

He smiled again, excited at the prospect of the kill, opening his door and making his way across the hall. The first person whom he knew was in the house: In the living room, the green one. 

His prey no longer had a name, only the comforting smell of the person identifying him in his mind. Matt approached the couch quietly, something deep in Matt’s mind stuttering at the dejavu of the scene, teeth extending in anticipation.

Over in the kitchen, a light flickered on, making Matt jump. Although the green one hadn’t reacted to the change, Matt could sense a strong presence up ahead, causing him to duck and hide behind the couch. What was that?

Matt hadn’t detected any intruders in the house. Hearing them rifling through the fridge so freely, Matt identified who it must be: The warm blooded one.

He licked his lips at the scent, mouth salivating as he imagined sinking his fangs into that hot meal. Okay, forget the green one, he’d go for the main course first before having dessert. He could hear their footsteps growing nearer to the living room now.

“Hey, Edd,” Tom greeted, spritzing open a cold Smirnoff. “I’m going to bed now. Have you seen Matt yet?” The inquiry was filled with suspicious interest. Matt held his breath from where he was hidden, crouched behind the sofa.

“Uh, yeah, actually.” Edd’s eyes finally tore themselves away from the TV screen to look at his friend. “Why?”

Tom shrugged, saying, “Just thought I smelled something funny,” he said, then, “Plus, I saw a trail of watery footprints leading to Matt’s room, so.”

“Oh.” And if that confession wasn’t enough, he then continued.

“Yeah, and now he’s right behind you.” Tom took a leisurely sip. Startled at being revealed, Matt looked around himself for clues to how Tom could have known.

Not finding any footprints after all, he stood up to glare at him, before baring his fangs and walking towards him menacingly. Tom noticed his approach before Edd did, but most of all his general appearance. He spurted out some of his drink and coughed.

Edd then exclaimed, “Woah, Matt!” Matt ignored him, going straight for his first target.

“M-att?” Tom raised his hands and started to back away from the monster. He didn’t respond, grin hardly able to widen anymore with how he presented his weapons to his prey.

“Tom!” Matt was suddenly hit on the back of the head with something. The world took a turn, and he found himself sprawled upside down against the opposite wall. “I think we should...Run!” Edd dropped the lamp he’d used to bat Matt away from the two, running with Tom towards the kitchen area. Wait, they were getting away?

Matt rolled onto all fours, rubbing the back of his sore head. Still feeling the bump on his skull, he stood up again, raising his hearing towards where his prey had left.

“...some sort of vampire.” There’s the sound of a door opening.

“What do we do?” There’s the shutting of a door, and more muffled conversation. They must have left the house. Feeling properly recovered, Matt trudged on to go looking for his meals.

They’d gone out the back way and fled...Matt could smell that they ran upwind, the scent already growing more faint. He jogged after them, eyes watching the faint smokey trail leading towards out of their neighborhood. They were going towards denser populated areas. Matt narrowed his eyes, picking up his pace.

“Wait, I’ve got an idea,” Matt could hear one of them say. He stopped short, just before the lines of houses stopped, seeing the smells going in opposite directions. They’d split up, it seemed.

Matt chose the stronger scent and chased after it, going into another person’s backyard and back over the fence again. They were going straight back towards their house again. With a clear goal in mind, he was there again in a flash.

However, he’d lost sight of the smell. Where did it go…? Looking around himself from the side of their house, he could see a smell going through their front door. Bingo.

The door slammed in his face before he could dive through it, nearly taking off his head. He glared at it, hearing the footsteps of his prey quickly retreating. Dumb door. He ripped it out of its hinges, throwing it behind himself as he walked on through.

“Now!” Tom said, before there was a crash somewhere else. He faltered, but wasn’t the most pressing thing on Matt’s mind as he stared at the thing in Tom’s hand.

Tom recovered, “Um, prepare yourself! Mega-Ultra-Stake-Machine-Gun!!” He pressed a button that began its revolution. Matt slowed down time, rolling his eyes at the reusage of the weapon from his dream. Get creative, reality, he thought before his thoughts were interrupted once again.

Something hit him from behind, on the bump on his head no less! It was the lamp again. He turned around to see Edd, who was currently hiding behind a stolen gurney to which--.

The stake machine gun had tore into Matt, throwing him straight for the gurney. He and someone else yelped as he was pinned against it, Edd also cowering somewhere to avoid getting stabbed. How lucky for him, since he wasn’t the one currently with stakes pinning most of their limbs to a board. He struggled to get out.

“Uhh, we might wanna tie him down too,” Edd muttered, getting up and walking presumably towards Tom, who sighed.

“I’ll get the duck-tape...” Matt growled at them, finding that he’d almost loosened his left wrist. He’d be out of this soon enough…

“Make that chains,” Edd revised.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> swiggity swood, after that blood
> 
> ((seriously though, I don't know if you guys want shout outs or whatever, but thanks so much for the support!! I'm lovin that you're lovin this, with all these Comments and Kudos man.


	16. A White Room

There was a searing pain in his stomach before he passed out again. Or, so he later thought, because it seemed he was still struggling as he fuzzily came in and out of consciousness, always growling and hissing, struggling to get out of his binds. They wouldn’t cage him, he’d rip their throats out, he’d--.

Thoughts of those things came back to Matt as he slowly regained consciousness again, this time in a much calmer state. The sickness that he’d felt earlier, both mentally and physically, was no longer present. His limbs were heavy now, but for once not out of exhaustion.

There was an IV sticking out of his wrist, to which Matt thought about investigating. Should he leave it in there?

He didn’t know where he was, but judging by all the white, he must be in a hospital. Another thing he noted, as he moved to take out the IV, was that he couldn’t move. He was strapped down, apparently, covers on top of him hiding the strong bindings.

He picked up his hearing to see if anyone was nearby. The door was shut, and apparently they were very sound proof, because he could only pick up muffled talking on the other side. Matt fixed his attention on the white roof tiles above, a worried nick in his mind telling him that it was about him.

He’d gone crazy, apparently. The vague recollections of what must have been yesterday, a new sun shining through the curtain cracks telling him that it was light out again, started to fall onto Matt’s shoulders to having been real. Yesterday he went and tried to kill his friends, bloodlust having taken over both his mind and body. He hoped he hadn’t caught them in the end.

He remembered having been staked to a gurney, but couldn’t clearly remember anything else. He’d been violent the few times he did come to again on the way to the hospital, so could have hurt his friends in any of those times. Were they too stuck in a hospital room, waking up with injuries inflicted by him?

Looking to either sides of him, he couldn’t find any traces that anyone had come to visit him. Not that his friends would come to see him, no he was looking for doctors’ clipboards or a note for him of course...There was a glass of water on the stand, not that Matt could reach out to take a sip.

He did have the IV in his arm, two in fact, one of which had a long red string going up into a pouch beside his bed. His pupils locked onto the trail and his mouth watered. He was a bit hungry, now that he was awake. His heart pounded, as a fear clawed its way into his mind that this was just him thirsting for blood again, and that was what had him wound up in the hospital in the first place.

Why wasn’t he locked up now, if the hospital figured out he was a vampire? Maybe this was monster jail, and that he was in the medical wing of that place right now. His monstrous urges were what had him strapped down in the first place, so that had to be the case.

If not, they would come for him later, unless his friends had covered for him. There wouldn’t be any reason for them to, since he tried to kill them and they therefore couldn’t know how dangerous of a creature he was now. He remembered the aghast expression on Tom’s face before his friends had knocked him in the head and ran. They had no idea what he was or what he was capable of.

They’d probably seen the bulk of it last night though, of just about everything he had he threw at them. Even though Matt was probably still a novice at his abilities, as the witch had stated, so he still had a ways to go and could have done a lot more damage. Matt didn’t think he was really dangerous besides that nasty craving that was struggling to come to surface again, probably staved off by whatever drugs he was given. Not that it mattered much anymore, since he’d snapped and was by proof, dangerous to be around.

He was still conflicted by the time somebody finally opened the door again. It was a nurse, Matt saw, walking around his bed to check his IV pouches. He followed them with his eyes, not saying anything as anxiety tore at his throat rendering him mute.

“How are you feeling, Matt?” The nurse asked, a smile on her lips. Since he was engaged in conversation, a bit of voice came back to him.

“I’m fine.” His voice was small, scared to speak any louder and break the bubble of illusioned peace. 

“Very good.” His response apparently hadn’t outraged them, as they sat down on a chair next to his bed with a clipboard at ready. They wrote down something to what he said.

“I’m Dr. Montoya,” she said, Matt erasing the title of nurse from his mind. “I’m going to ask you a few questions, if that’s alright?” Matt couldn’t nod his head properly from how he lay.

“Sure,” he responded instead.

They wrote something else, before asking, “Do you remember anything from last night?”

“I...Yes and no,” he said truthfully. That brought something to mind... “I’m sorry. Uh, can I, ask something…?”

“Of course.” They dotted their I’s or crossed their T’s, before bringing Matt their full attention.

“I...Are Tom and Edd okay?”

“Your friends? They’re fine.” It was a rather brief response, but maybe that would be all that Matt was getting. They must still be alive, at least…

They plowed on, seeing as Matt was silent for another moment. “Do you know how you got your injuries?”

“I was staked to a gurney.” The image came back to him, as he reenvisioned the wood pieces sticking out of him.

“Do you know by whom?” they pressed.

“...” It went without saying that he shouldn’t throw his friends under the bus. They wrote something down, before Matt remembered someone who he could pin some blame on.

“There was a lady-,” Matt interrupted Montoya's scribbling, “-that staked me with a chair leg, in my stomach. But...” He hoped he was conveying that he couldn’t remember the rest, as he lamely finished, “...yeah.”

“..Do you have a name?” She wasn’t asking about his name, but the lady’s.

“Oh, uhh,” Matt racked his brain for a name to come back to him. “Chair-y?”

“-any last name?”

“Uhh.” He couldn’t remember. They wrote something down as a final, before setting their pen down.

“Sir,” they addressed, before giving him a run down. “You have about 13 stab wounds, one of which had been allowed to bleed out for hours before treatment, in the stomach, as you’ve addressed,” she began.

“We’ve found traces of heroin and the equivalent of elephant tranquilizers in your blood. We believe that a bad reaction to both of these drugs caused you to have a psychotic episode that lasted about six hours before you finally calmed down. In addition, you’ve been diagnosed with an iron deficiency problem, to which we can prescribe medication to you for on request.”

“Any questions?” she finally asked. That was...a lot of information. Wait, when had Matt been drugged?

“I was drugged?”

“Yes. We think that you had ingested them at some point. There were only small amounts, so it was likely that it had been laced in your food.”

“Oh.” Matt didn’t think he’d eaten any suspicious foods, not that he could remember. Huh, there hadn’t been any mentions of his vampirism, strangely enough.

“No,” he answered hesitantly. She nodded, then stood up.

“Alright then.” She paused. “Also, the people who brought you here, your friends, are here to see you. Would you like me to send them in?” WHAT?

“YES,” Matt replied, with vigor. She grinned and agreed to do so, walking towards the door and carefully shutting it with a click. 

They’re here? Why are they here? Had they not told the hospital that he was a vampire after all? How had they managed to make it look like he was a normal person when he was staked to a gurney? Did he hurt any of them? Questions rushed through his mind at what he would ask them when they came in, before one caused the rest to come to a stuttering halt.

He could hear footsteps walking past his room, none of which had come to open his door yet. What if they were mad, and he couldn’t get one question out because they were yelling at him? They would be rightly so. He could see the betrayal written on their faces, as Edd and Tom took turns releasing their emotions at him. Or worse, it would be dead silent, with Matt’s guilt just hanging in the air as Edd and Tom tried to figure out how to break the bad news to him that they couldn’t live with a vampire anymore.

Matt couldn’t look at the door immediately after it opened, nerves trying to steel themselves into not taking flight despite the straps holding him down. He felt like a bug on an examining table, just waiting to be squashed or have its wings clipped. He knew who they were, by the sounds of their baited breath.

“-Matt?” One of them asked, although both of them looked like they had a question on their lips. Matt’s chest rose and fell a couple shaky times, knowing that it must be his turn to say something.

“Hey guys,” Matt greeted, almost normally. “You came to see me.”

“Oh my God,” Edd breathed, pulling up a metal chair conveniently set up by the bed. “Don’t EVER do that again.”

“You had us worried sick!” Tom scolded, though he amended, “-Not for the stake machine gun thing. You deserved that.”

Edd seemed to be in agreement. “-But with the wound that you didn’t tell us about! Unless the we had 13 stakes instead of the 12 shot at you. And the drugs??” 

“Since when?” Tom asked Matt.

“Since when what?” He had to be more specific.

“All of this! You can tell us more about the you-know-what later, but the drugs?”

“I didn’t-. I-I was poisoned!” Matt wasn’t at fault for that, maybe for everything else though. Speaking of… “the ‘you-know-what’?”

“You know,” Tom trailed off vaguely. He looked to Edd for help, but finding that useless, gave up, red in the face. “Ugh, nevermind. We can talk about it when we get home.”

“Why?” It was Edd who asked. “Isn’t that a bit paranoid?”

“You never know!” Tom defended. “They’ve got nurses all over this building, with ears.” Edd was shaking his head at Tom, while Matt’s ears picked up on a certain word Tom used. Home. 

Was he even going back to a home? “I’m...” he broke in, “-sorry.” He wasn’t used to apologizing for things, but usually he didn’t endanger his friends on his own accord/being. Even if he was being controlled by the Mysterious Feeling.

He felt that he should try to persuade them, “I didn’t-…” He didn’t mean to. “I couldn’t-…” He couldn’t control himself. Neither of those things could justly defend himself, but looking at the faces of his friends, a light rose above his clouds as they exchanged a look.

Edd and Tom, at the same time, said, “We know.” Tom, tired of standing, went to sit on the edge of Matt’s bed.

“But--”

“--We know,” Edd interrupted, while Tom said, “What the heck?” His hand was hovering over a part where a strap was hidden underneath the covers, to which Tom peeked at.

“Ah...” Those were Matt’s restraints, because he was still dangerous. Tom shot him a wary glance, but otherwise remained sitting. “I’m...they haven’t taken those off yet.”

“I can see that.” Tom stated, crossing his arms.

“Whatever,” Edd said, after an awkward beat. “They’re probably going to come take those off soon anyways, since Matt’s in the right frame of mind now.” How could Edd be sure though, he wanted to ask.

Instead, he groveled. “They’re going to keep me here forever, guys. They’re going to lock me up, like the monster I am.” There, he said it. Tom snorted at his drama, while Edd huffed.

“Stop being dramatic,” Edd said.

Then Tom asked, “You didn’t let on that you were a monster to them, did you?”

Oh, so they were going to talk about the ‘you-know-what’? “...No,” he admitted.

“Then they aren’t going to lock you up.”

“At most, they’ll put him in rehab,” Edd joked to Tom. 

“I didn’t do drugs, guys!” How could Edd joke at a time like this? 

“Surrrre you didn’t,” Tom said sarcastically. He was a monster now, and the conversation had just gotten derailed.

But, it seemed normal. It was something that Matt had been craving since he’d woken up the previous day, some semblance that nothing had changed. And for once, it was looking to be that way; normal.

As they talked about what had gone on in the waiting room while Matt was passed out, Matt found himself forgetting that he was a vampire for a bit. Eventually, a nurse did come in and release him, both physically and officially. In that time, no vampire hunters burst in, not angry boyfriends, no emotional outbursts. Just a few friends walking out of the hospital with their friend in tow, on their way home.

 

\---


	17. Home

Matt’s feet were resting on a pile of towels in the backseat, a result of the messy trip the previous day. Tom had thrown those haphazardly in the backseat when he’d went to grab Edd and himself food while Edd stuck it out in the hospital, still waiting for updates about Matt’s condition.

They didn’t talk much about the trip to the hospital, only brief mentions of it and after it. Perhaps it was best for now, to keep that violent image of Matt out of their minds, until they had an actual discussion about it. Matt was perfectly fine with this, as he couldn’t and didn’t want to remember it all clearly. There were many reminders of it however, with the wet squelching noise the towels made underneath him, the unnerved glances made into the rear view mirror towards the backseat, and the fatigue written on each of their faces with a clear lack of sleep.

There was a container of fries left sitting in their cup holder that Tom had offered to Matt, but as hungry as he was, the cold potatoes hadn’t looked very appealing. Maybe it was the battle worn car that rose a sickness to his stomach, but Matt’s dry tastebuds just weren’t craving them. He’d much prefer ice cream, however he wasn’t quite comfortable making them turn the car around to go grab some just for him, especially when it looked like they were all about to pass out any second.

Matt was extremely grateful to be out of the hospital, as were his friends, so tried lightening the mood by reaching over and turning on the radio. No one jumped when he leaned over, which he counted as a victory, especially when no one yelled at him for not staying in his seat or that he ‘could’ve gotten them into a car accident’. They probably appreciated the music right now, even if it was some random repeat of a song playing.

He’d gotten his foot tangled with the gross towels as he sat down, shaking his foot to loosen the tangle. He kept his head straight on, Edd mentioning something the radio had said about the weather and getting snow, ignoring the beads of grime that were left on his boot when it had come free. Would Matt ever be free from things related to blood?

That was probably the largest reason for when they had stopped the car in front of their house, Matt was the first to jump out. The other two took their time to meander out of the car, Matt already at the front door by the time they’d shut the car doors shut again. They must have taken it as eagerness to be home though, as no one said anything about his strange behavior.

They all walked through the doorway entrance, Edd taking one glance at the door laying on their front lawn and saying that he wasn’t going to clean that up. Matt and Tom looked at eachother, being the last ones with the responsibility, Tom’s face saying clearly that he wasn’t going to either. Well, maybe Matt would take responsibility for that too, as he needed to get on their good sides again.

Edd with purpose went and face planted onto the couch, a muffled voice telling Tom to grab him a Cola from the fridge when he nudged his legs to make room for himself. Since the couch was pretty much occupied but he still wanted to sit, Matt sat down with his back to the TV facing the couch, and laid back on the floor. Tom sighed and complied with Edd’s demands.

When Matt opened his eyes again, he saw that Edd had turned his head and was silently watching him in his tired state. Matt pretended he hadn’t seen him, yawning and turning his head in the opposite direction.

“Hey, Matt?” Edd’s sleepy voice called.

“Yeah?” Matt cleared his throat, preparing to answer whatever inquiry that was on Edd’s mind.

“How long have you been a vampire?”

“Since...Halloween, I think.”

“Oh.” And that was all he said on that note. It filled in the gap though, for why Matt had been behaving so oddly all this week. Matt opened his eyes, and looking across the carpet, there were indeed dark footprints leading from the living room out towards his room.

Tom came back and handed Edd his Cola, also with a Smirnoff and another bottle tucked under his arm. He handed the bottle to Matt, which Matt took gratefully. He did like pickle juice.

Edd sat up, and the three of them took a moment to savor their respective drinks. Matt’s mind was blank, remaining receptive to the quietness of the room rather than being introspective. He had enough of that in the blankness of the hospital room, eyes and mind left alone to wander for far too long.

“So, we should probably get this over with.” Tom was the first one to speak again. “-Before I’m too drunk to care.”

“Mh,” Edd sighed, content as the caffeine probably did its work. As for Matt, his tastebuds were nicely quenched by now, so he nodded.

They sat there watching Matt as if he was the television screen for another second more.

“I--.” Edd and Matt had spoken at the same time, words getting jumbled and coming to a stop.

“No, you go first,” Edd told him, before Matt could insist.

“I don’t know where to start anyways,” Matt protested.

Tom grunted, annoyed. “Why are you a vampire now?” Well, that was as good a place to start anyways.

“I got bitten,” Matt said, instinctively holding the shoulder he’s gotten turned by. Edd’s mouth had formed a little ‘o’, while Tom kept his eyes on his Smirnoff bottle.

“Can-,” Edd hesitated, before asking, “-Can we see it?” Matt shrugged the shoulder he wasn’t holding.

“Sure,” he said, and hooked a finger into the material around his right shoulder. Edd made a little gasping noise, but Matt wasn’t looking at them, a little embarrassed by the marring of his skin there.  _ What did it look like _ , he wondered. He figured it probably looked like the classic two puncture holes, like where a vampire’s canines would be.

“So you’re--,” Edd started, not finishing that thought. “Can you turn into a bat?” 

“Er, I don’t know.”

“What about teleportation?”

“Nno?”

“Super strength?”

“Do you crave blood,” Tom interrupted Edd’s peppering. “-like, right now?”

“Uh.” That was a hard one. “I am a little hungry. But. Not really. Crave-y?”

Matt rambled, “I can eat normal food, but I don’t really have to drink blood. Well, if I don’t, then the lady said that I’ll probably go on a rampage. Again. But you guys already know that- Well, I didn’t know that, and you didn’t know that--.” He felt a little guilty about mentioning it, but he wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

Tom cut in again, “--Wait, what lady?”

“Um. The vampire-witch lady.” What was her name again? “-Carol.”

“Wwhen was this?” 

“Today?” Oh, wait. “-I mean yesterday.” Blacking out might’ve made time go by a little quicker in Matt’s mind.

“How about I just tell you what happened yesterday,” Matt suggested.

Edd shrugged, “Sure.”

FLAAAAASHBAAAAACK

One nightmare recounted, messy room cleaned, reflection mourned --Edd, Tom, why are you laughing about that, that’s the worst part--, post-park night’s sleep slept, Sir Mattilious obtained, Detective confused, tattoo shop visited, and one witch’s hut escaped later, Matt had delved into the entirety of what he could remember since he was turned. After he’d gotten through the seriousness of the strings of murders he’d committed and had, with equally solemn face, gone into how he couldn’t see himself in his mirror anymore, his friends broke the serious atmosphere with their gawfs, but otherwise, for the most part, they were good listeners.

Over the course of his story he’d also described most of what abilities he knew he had, to which both friends seemed quite interested in. He even had to stop his story for a moment when they were most curious about his mind-controlling powers.

“So, wait. You can control peoples’ minds??” Edd had interrupted. Matt fiddled with Sir Mattilious, having run off to show him off once he’d gotten to that part of his story.

“I guess?” Matt accepted. “It’s kind of like a battle of wills, or something.”

“Try it with me,” Tom ordered.

“What?” Matt didn’t want to do that. They were his friends.

“I said. Try to do it with me,” he repeated.

“Oo! Me too!” Edd chimed in.

“I-It doesn’t work very well when the other person knows to fight it,” Matt said, trying to ward them off. It kind of looked like Tom had rolled his eyes.

“Come on, Matt,” he complained. It wasn’t fair, that they could naturally loom over him from where he sat on the floor. He sat up a bit straighter, getting ready.

“Yeah, Matt,” Edd continued to press, “We’re your friends. We gotta be prepared and all that.”

“Fine,” Matt snapped, then added, “Just. Don’t get mad at me.” It was as much warning as he could give them, because if it worked, trust would be an even thinner thing to obtain from them.

He stared directly into the blacks of Tom’s eyes, hands loosening their grip on his pant legs, trying to think of something to order him to do. He stared back, getting the message that he was starting.

“Tom,” he said. “-You will go make me a sandwich.” Tom didn’t even blink, assumably holding Matt’s stare.

“...” For a moment he didn’t say anything. “..No.” Matt released the breath that he didn’t know he’d been holding.

Then Tom grinned smugly, saying, “See?” Matt grinned also, more out of relief than of anything else.

“Woah,” Edd breathed, also smiling. “That’s cool.”

“What?” Matt asked. He hadn’t been trying to control Edd’s mind, so what was ‘cool’ about it?

“Your eyes became slits and flashed red. Or, maybe they were already slits..” Edd thought for a moment. “Kinda intimidating, actually.” Matt’s stomach sank a bit. 

“Pshh, Matt? Intimidating?” Tom shook his head, taking a swig of vodka.

Edd also scoffed at the idea. “But seriously. Your eyes have been changing colors a lot lately,” Edd mused.

“The first night you came back, they were glowing red, kinda like last-last night. Then, during the day, they were a kinda poopy brown. But then, later, they were a nicer brown? I dunno...” Matt and Tom both blinked at this, glancing at eachother momentarily.

“..Why do you know all this?” Tom asked, and Matt snickered. He did feel a bit unnerved, how closely he’d been watched. But also kind of flattered.

“Um,” Edd looked bashful. “An artist’s observation of color and light?”

Matt tried to stifle his giggles, while Tom called, “Bullshit.” Edd started to spout something to his defense, shoving Tom’s arm.

Matt cooed, “Aww.” 

“Come on, guys,” Edd pleaded. “Tom, you saw it too. With glow-in-the-dark eyes. I just thought it was strange, is all.” Matt and Tom let off a bit. “-Combined with how differently Matt was acting.” He gestured a hand to Matt, to which Tom’s eyes followed.

“Hm...” He leaned forward towards Matt. Matt sat still, curious. “You’re right. They’re green now.” Matt looked towards his lap, surprised with this revelation. He still wished he could’ve had a mirror to confirm for himself.

“Let me see,” Edd said, and Matt complied. “Huh. You’re right.” Edd looked cheekily at the other two, huffing. “See? I told you.”

“Doesn’t change anything,” Tom lamely retorted.

“Doesn’t change what?” Edd asked.

“I just said.”

“Well, you meant something,” Edd said, while Matt thought for a moment.

“I thought my eyes were just green,” Matt muttered, though loudly enough that it stopped his friends bickering. His eyes had always been green, occasionally blue or yellow in certain lightings- never brown or red though. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, not that brown and red were bad colors, but with how much he’d changed without his knowing. What else was he going to miss, now that he couldn’t check himself in his reflection?

The other two must have caught where his train of thought was going, so Edd suggested, “Why don’t you tell us the rest of what happened yesterday.” 

Matt’s brain took a moment to process what Edd had said. “Oh. Uh, where was I?”

 

\---


	18. Peace

Matt’s story took a long time to tell, having starting from the very beginning of his vampirism. Eventually there was a lull in the conversation, where all their stomachs were growling so loudly that they decided to take their ‘family meeting’ to the kitchen. Edd was standing by the stove making noodles now, Tom being too drunk to help and Matt’s mind otherwise more occupied with telling the story over the sound of the water boiling.

Food was about ready by the time Matt drew to the end of his tale. Matt refused to move Sir Mattilious from where he placed him on the table where there used to be a fourth seat... _ Why had there used to be a fourth seat _ , Matt wondered. Edd merely sighed, settling to place the noodles on the counter instead, after serving everyone a bowl of hot soup.

“So, you’re basically a ticking bomb,” Tom concluded, after getting something that wasn’t alcohol into his system. Matt thought about that comparison for a moment, shrugging.

Edd cut in to clarify, “I mean, it sounds like you need a pretty steady supply of blood, in order not to lose control.” Matt fiddled with the dirty hoodie Tom had brought back for him at the hospital, still uncomfortable with the line of conversation. His other friends were taking these in strides though, much better than he himself was taking it. 

“I-I-...” What they were saying though made him sound dangerous though, and he didn’t want to confirm any of those suspicions. He swallowed his fears, even then admitting, ”-Yeah.” It was silent for a moment, allowing everyone to mull over what this meant.

Then Tom spoke, “Well, you’re not getting my blood.” He crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat calmly, while Edd scolded him.

“Tom.” Although, he didn’t go volunteering his own blood next. Instead, he said, “That’s no permanent solution anyways. There’s no way, even with the two of us, that we could give blood to him so often. Er, however often that is,” he amended, revealing how new the situation was to him.

“Well,” Matt spoke, feeling a little better. From the way Edd talked, it sounded like they were willing to try to come up with a ‘solution’ for him. “The book the lady had didn’t really say how often vampires fed. But-” his voice wavered, feeling the weight of his friend’s stares on the word ‘fed’. “I can sort of sense it.” -With the ‘Nameless Feeling’. It liked to creep up on him, gradually becoming more present before it finally took over him. That was probably an indicator to his uncontrollable cravings, Matt figured.

“We know what the limit is,” Tom said. “It’s two days, since Matt went crazy two days after he became a vampire.”  _ That’s not a long time at all _ , Matt panicked. 

“That doesn’t count though,” Edd retorted, “since Matt lost a lot of blood in between that time.” Oh, that was true too. Edd punctuated that sentence with a loud sip of his soup, the chainsaw like noise not fazing the other two in the least as they all mulled over what to do.

Blood didn’t sound like an easy thing to come by at all, Matt realized. His friends had pensive looks pasted onto their faces as the silence overtook them, Matt unconsciously letting time slow around him. There was still a nervous pit in his stomach, but the warm soup combined with the way Tom bit his bottom lip in thought and Edd scratched at his scalp as if to stimulate the activity in his mind, let that fluttering feeling seem less painful. It was much better than lying on a cold pavement in his own blood alone, and their help was a grand welcoming after having to encounter the two-faced witch. No, this was much better.

There was a beam of light entering the kitchen, just hitting the table where Matt rested his forearm next to his bowl. He knew that it itched a little, but his curiosity at the sensation caused him to leave it there, testing his tolerance to the radiation. His arm was already littered with little freckles from past exposure to the light, but now was he even more susceptible to being kissed by the sun?

“I know,” Edd interrupted Matt’s wonderings, causing him to jump a little. Edd was grinning as if he just solved a grand mystery, which he just may have.

Edd drew it out for a moment. “We could...” Tom’s forefinger tapped his bicep impatiently. “...start a donation pool!” There was a second where they all processed that.

“What,” Tom stated blandly. “Why would they wanna donate blood to Matt?”

“Uh,” Edd thought for a second. He glanced worriedly at Matt’s expectant face, ever so hopefully. “Well...” Matt cast his eyes downwards.

Tom was right. Who would want to donate blood to some random guy that they never met? Unless they tried to buy blood or something, if that sort of market existed. That would require a lot of planning and effort though, and who knows how much time they would have to put into putting it out into social media and appealing to customers-- not to mention doing this all under the legal radar.

When Matt looked up again, Edd was lost in his thoughts again, while Tom was busy messing around on his phone. Depression sunk in once again, making Matt wish he could just go back to the livingroom and die on the couch right then and there. Maybe the notion that they could work though this problem together was just too unfeasible, and it would end there and then as a nice thought. All Matt had to do to end it would be to leave and do jus--.

“Take your pick..”

Tom brought his phone back up, thrusting it towards Matt’s face. Matt blinked rapidly at the glowing screen, staring as Tom’s thumb brushed over multiple tabs, ranging from blood-donation places, social media help pages, labs and the whole lot of what Matt had been stumped upon.

There was a lot of information and resources pulled up, as if Tom had been working this out for a while. Had he been doing this at the table, or before then? Matt’s eyes were glued to the screen, the harsh light of the screen having nothing to do with the irritation in his eyes.

-Or the wide smile spreading on his face. “Oo, go back to the magazine page. I wanna be a model!” Matt stood up, leaning over the table to try and bring Tom to the page himself. Tom brought the phone back to him protectively, although complying.

“A model..? I was thinking we could just write a sappy article and put it in there,” Tom muttered, head turned down to the phone. Matt could feel the heat radiating off of him, partially confirming some of Matt’s suspicions..

“We could do both!” Edd butted in, face making it clear that he too wanted a part of this.

Edd pointed at Tom. “Tom, you could be the photographer,” he said, and pointed to Matt, “You can be the model,” then finally to himself, “and I can be the writer/publisher.”

“Hey, why do you get to be the publisher?” Tom interrupted.

“Well, who else would be the publisher?” Edd scoffed and shook his head as Tom opened his mouth to object.

“What about Ringo?” Both of them turned to look at Matt with deadpan expressions.

Edd and Tom spoke, “no.” They didn’t give an explanation as to why not, and just continued to bicker again.

Matt leaned back a bit to avoid the bulk of the argument, pitching in every now and then. He may have had his doubts about his friends before, but they were on his side, it seemed, even if they weren’t always on the same page. 

For the rest of the morning, as they bounced ideas back and forth on what to do with Matt’s problem, it felt as though everything would be okay.

His smile didn’t leave for the rest of that day, as they left out on another adventure to inevitably return home again in wholesome peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a while to get this ending written out, whoo! for a while i wasn't really sure if i wanted it to end there?? But I figured, if I wanted any other arcs of problems, it would be best to add it into another story, especially as most of my ideas were one-shots for vampire matt stories, hahahh.
> 
> Anywho, thanks for sticking around, folks! Hope you enjoyed!!


End file.
